Apheromone that helps a baby rabbit find its mother’s nipple may also help to set its day-and-night cycle and facilitate digestion. It’s the first time that an olfactory cue has been shown to affect a newborn mammal’s behaviour and physiology.
Rabbit pups nurse just once a day, and some of them manage to down a third of their body weight in rich, high-fat milk. More remarkable, the feed usually lasts no longer than three minutes. No young bunny wants to miss out on its one and only meal, so the pups emerge from their nest about an hour before feeding…
