h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Alright, I know this question is HIGHLY theoretical, but could rabbits suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder in the same way humans do? We're having trouble keeping our rabbit calm (he's a buck) and he seems happier when he's been able to get out or if there is a light he will go and sit near it. Is it possible he needs more light?

Having just googled a bit, they need vitamin D, generated by exposure to sunlight just like us.
I think SAD may be a bit strong but certainly they do need light.


I think you'll get more out of a forum of pet rabbit owners mind. Someone is sure to know what they're talking about there.

Has he been neutered?

Rabbits need a lot of space for exercise and they love to dig. I would imagine he is happier when he has been out cos he's had some exercise and a bit of free rein. If he is normally kept indoors or in a hutch, I don't blame him for sitting near a light, I don't think they get SAD, but he probably enjoys the sun like any other animal, so is doing what he can to make up for any lack.

Rabbits in the wild are most active in twilight, doing most of their grazing just before dawn and just after sunset. So I think it is unlikely that your rabbit's mood will be affected by lack of sunlight.

I'm not sure, Tifa is an indoor rabbit, she like to sit by the kitchen door and look out, but tends to hide under the bird cages during the day. She also likes to sniff the cats' bums when they're eating - it drives 'em nuts

Is it possible it needs more exercise?

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasitical single-celled organism that makes cats urine sexually alluring to rodents by altering their brain chemistry so the parasite can reproduce in the cats digestive tract when the cat eats the rat.

It can infect humans too (making them apparently less risk averse and showing up in in the number of cat-owners who are also motorcycle accident statistics.) Maybe it goes after rabbits too. Just a thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8036281975251919592#

Clive! You've just wasted a perfectly good QI question.

I've talked about that on h2g2 before in the presence of QI minions, I figured people would remember.

Dare I suggest that since rabbits change colour with the seasons
that this may be a byproduct of their need for Vitamin D absorption -
which happily also provides seasonal camouflage.

As for parasitic mind altering substances - viral, bacterial and wormy -
there are many amazing discoveries being made. Another recent discovery
is that ants may 'un-naturally' climb grass stalks making them vulnerable
to being eaten by sheep (because they have eaten of a virus which needs to
breed in sheeps' intestines).

I believe further research into the way microscopic critters can alter behavior
in larger beasts will finally give us the answer to the meaning of LIFF.
It won't be pretty.


~jwf~

Ant virues - I thought that phenomena was caused by a fungus?

I know there's one they climb up top, the fungus shoots out the top of their head and rains down spores on the colony below.

What's interesting about that one is that the ants' actions are controlled by the fungus so precisely. It drives them to find a plant, climb up it, and clamp themselves on to the mid-rib of a leaf with their mandibles. Always at the same height, and always a leaf facing the same direction.

The colonies seem to have developed a way of knowing when a particular ant is affected, and exiling it from the rest of the community.

Fascinating.

>> Always at the same height, and always a leaf facing the same direction. <<


That starts to sound like ritual...
suggesting fungi have (or can instill) religion.

I told you it wouldn't be pretty.


~jwf~

>> Always at the same height, and always a leaf facing the same direction. <<

looks like it works and other ways don't.......evolution in action

... And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands...

That's it, Taff. It steers them to the perfect location for the fungus to live, they anchor themselves, and then die.

It's the precision of the fungus-given directions that I find so fascinating. It's a bit like a strain of athlete's foot that makes you walk to a shop, buy a litre of milk and then start singing the national anthem of Peru.

I think a lot of the reason for the precision is the amount of time the parasite has had to throw at the problem - they were doing it 48 million years ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/18/zombie-carpenter-ant-fungus

It's also entirely feasible that it's a sign that the behaviour patterns of a creature such as an ant aren't necessarily terrifically complex.
I don't think it's all that valid to compare it to our own behaviour pattern although of course, such things are extremely useful simple models to try and begin to understand it.