Recognising Rabbit Emotions
The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of rabbit owners, non-owners and professionals to recognize and interpret rabbit emotions based on their behaviour and body language, such as body posture, ear position and eye shape.
Rabbits are popular companion animals, but due to their silent nature their emotions often go unnoticed, is overlooked or misinterpreted. Because many of the everyday situations that rabbits are subjected to are stress inducing (e.g. handling), it is crucial that owners and professionals are able to identify their emotional state.
The first part of the project therefore intends to assess the ability of people with different backgrounds to interpret rabbit behaviour and emotional state. The second part of the project will investigate whether targeted training can improve people’s ability to interpret rabbit emotions. Both parts are survey-based.
The results of the project have the potential to improve rabbit welfare and the human-rabbit bond, as well as lie the groundwork for educational materials.
You can access the questionnaire here: Recognizing Rabbit Emotions - questionnaire (URL)
Formalities
Project: Recognising Rabbit Emotions
Period: September 2024 – December 2025
Student working on the project:
Femke Castellino, veterinary MSc student, Utrecht University.
Contact
Cecilie Ravn Skovlund, postdoc (cecilie.skovlund@sund.ku.dk)
Mette Halck, PhD student, Exotic Veterinarian (mettehalck@sund.ku.dk)