AnAge entry for Oryctolagus cuniculus

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Although in the wild females reach full sexual maturity at the age of 2 years, in domesticated animals females can reproduce when they are only three months old. There are many anecdotes concerning the longevity of rabbits. It has been estimated that both in the wild and in captivity they rarely live more than 9 years [0434]. A rabbit in Australia called "Flopsy" reportedly lived 18.8 years in captivity after being caught in the wild [0551], but this record cannot be confirmed. Record longevity in zoos and parks is only 7.9 years belonging to one female at Frankfurt Zoo [0671]. Further studies are necessary to better estimate the maximum longevity of these animals.

Life history traits (averages)

Metabolism

References

[0489] Forsyth et al. (2005), Lagomorphs (rabbits, pikas and hares) do not use telomere-directed replicative aging in vitro, PubMed
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0189] Kapahi et al. (1999), Positive correlation between mammalian life span and cellular resistance to stress, PubMed
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0113] Ioannidis et al. (1997), Detrimental effect of aging on the endurance of bone cement. An in vivo and in vitro study in rabbits, PubMed
[0114] Adenot et al. (1997), In vivo aging of oocytes influences the behavior of nuclei transferred to enucleated rabbit oocytes, PubMed
[0676] Purvis and Harvey (1995), Mammal life-history evolution: a comparative test of Charnov’s model
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0112] Langin et al. (1992), Drop in the "atypical" beta-adrenergic response and modification of the beta/alpha 2-adrenoceptor balance in fat cells from aging rabbits, PubMed
[0542] Bernhard Grzimek (1990), Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals
[0111] Woodruff-Pak (1988), Aging and classical conditioning: parallel studies in rabbits and humans, PubMed
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
[0110] Lippman (1985), Rapid in vivo quantification and comparison of hydroperoxides and oxidized collagen in aging mice, rabbits and man, PubMed
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
[0109] Staatz and Van Horn (1980), The effects of aging and inflammation on corneal endothelial wound healing in rabbits, PubMed
[0115] Fox (1980), The rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and research on aging, PubMed
[0116] Banroques et al. (1978), Aging of pyruvate kinase isozymes in rabbit lens, PubMed
[0055] Pearce and Brown (1960), Hereditary premature sensescence of the rabbit. I. Chronic form; general features, PubMed
[0054] Pearce and Brown (1960), Hereditary premature senescence of the rabbit. II. Acute form; general features, PubMed
[0551] Guinness World Records

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