Why are Rabbits so quiet?

When we think about getting a pet in our house, there are a lot of things that we need to consider. One of them being the noise and sounds that they create, especially if you are living in an apartment and your neighbours live very close to your house/flat.

Dogs and parrots are one of the pets having a very bad rapport in this department – they can create a real havoc with their barking, and squawking. Cat’s meow, purr and hiss are rather easy on the ears. And on the extreme other end of the spectrum are pets like fishes and rabbits that almost make no sounds.

But why?

Why do Rabbits make almost no sound?

Though rabbits do make some sounds, but that’s very low in intensity. Why do rabbits keep so silent? Well, here we have listed some of the reasons behind their veil of silence:

• Predators: In the wild, rabbits have various predators and so they have to keep their volume low. Even if a predator can smell them, it will have a hard time locating the rabbit if it cannot hear their sound. If they are found, they might get hunted down. Even if the adult rabbits do manage to run away, the predators will kill and eat their new-borns, if they somehow get to find their nest.

• If your rabbit is uncharacteristically silent, then it may also mean that it is either depressed, or maybe unhealthy. Rabbits are not absolutely silent – they do squeak and make a variety of other sounds too. Once you know the normal sound levels of a particular rabbit, you will get to know if it suddenly becomes uncharacteristically silent. Rabbits are pretty consistent in their behaviour -any change in behaviour may signal some illness or pain. Enquire into the reasons behind this behaviour of his and maybe take him/her to a vet.

So, don’t be fooled with their silence. They do communicate with each other through sound. If they feel threatened, or are hurt, they can also scream loud, very loud. That’s something you would probably never like to hear coming out from the mouth of your pet rabbit. So, keep them safe.

If you often take out your pet rabbits outside for playtime of just for a walk, be extra vigilant. Domestic rabbits are not as vigilant (and silent) and fast as wild ones, and can easily fall prey to predators.

Winding Up

Though rabbits are rather silent creatures, they do so for a reason – their survival depends on their hearing capability, not on their sound making capacity.

Rabbits have long ears, and are always alert, listening to any new sound. You can say they are good listeners!

However, do not confuse their silent nature with lack of communication. Rabbits do make a variety of sounds to communicate with other rabbits and us humans. They even communicate with their body language. We just need to observe them minutely and learn the meanings of their sounds. We will cover this aspect in a separate article of ours.