Do Rabbits Really Love Carrots?

Rabbits make you think of carrots, and carrots make you think of rabbits.
In this game, too, Mocha scoops up carrots as she tumbles downward.
But the idea that carrots are a rabbit's main food is actually closer to a made-up image than the truth.

The cartoon character Bugs Bunny is often blamed for this impression.
That scene of Bugs crunching a carrot while wisecracking was a parody of an actor biting into a carrot in a famous 1930s film.
As the cartoon became a worldwide hit, the equation "rabbit = carrot" got cemented in everyone's heads.

A real rabbit's staple isn't carrots at all, but hay and grass.
Constantly chewing on fiber-rich dried grass is essential for a rabbit's digestion and dental health.
So what about carrots?
Rabbits do like them, but as a root vegetable they're pretty high in sugar.
That's why a carrot is better as an occasional treat than a daily heap.

In other words, a carrot is less of a "main course" for a rabbit and more of a "dessert." So the carrots Mocha gathers down in her burrow are probably best thought of as an adventurer's sweet little fuel, rather than her everyday meals.

Next up: Rabbits in culture, and the origin of "rabbit hole" →