Our rabbits lick us while we are holding and petting them, so we have no doubt that rabbits have tongues! As part of our informational posts about rabbit senses (hearing, seeing, smelling, taste and feeling), we put this quick post together about rabbit tongues.
Yes, a rabbit has a tongue that is pink and warm to the touch. Rabbits use their tongues to help them eat, drink, groom themselves and other rabbits, and to show care and affection.
You may be quite surprised about how far a rabbit can stick out its tongue!
What Is A Rabbit’s Tongue Used For?
The rabbit’s tongue helps the rabbit eat, drink, groom, and show affection.
Eating
Like most mammals, the rabbit uses its tongue to move food around in its mouth as it chews. Glands under the rabbit’s tongue secrete saliva, like the how glands under our human tongues secrete saliva.
Chewing food and mixing food with saliva is the first stage of digestion and the mouth is the first part of the rabbit’s digestive tract. The tongue also helps the rabbit swallow its food.
Drinking
The rabbit’s tongue also helps it drink water, similar to how a dog uses its tongue to drink water.
Grooming
Rabbits use their tongues to groom and clean their fur. They also use their tongues to groom and clean the fur of other rabbits. Rabbits are vey social with other rabbits of their warren. Grooming helps keep the rabbits clean and healthy; it is a rabbit’s primary action for good hygiene!
Do Rabbits Have Rough Tongues?
We say no, rabbits do not have rough tongues. Like many mammals, Rabbits do have papillae, or small bumps, on their tongues. The papillae are also where some of the rabbit taste buds are located. However, rabbits do not have a “sand-paper” tongue like a cow. Rather, the texture of the rabbit tongue is pretty close to the texture of the human tongue.
Why Do Rabbits Tongue or Lick?
When a rabbit licks you or sticks its tongue out toward you, it is showing affection to you! Licking you is very similar to the act of grooming themselves and is a sign of care and affection.
Why Are Rabbits Tongues Warm?
The rabbit’s normal body temperature is between 101.3 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Human body temperature is only 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. So, if you touch a rabbit’s tongue, it will seem warm to you. The rabbit’s tongue is normally two to five degrees warmer than your finger.
What Does Inside A Rabbits Mouth Look Like?
This Facebook Post by Dr. Evan Antin provides a unique view inside a rabbit’s mouth. Additionally, here is a University of Miami post about dental disease in rabbits, that shows the inside of a rabbit’s mouth. This page shows some great pictures of rabbits sticking out their tongues.
Video of rabbit’s tongue in slow motion!
And here is yet another article about the “Anatomy of the Rabbit Tongue”.
This post about the rabbit tongue is part of our larger guide to the 5 senses that rabbits use:
Hearing, Smelling, Seeing, Feeling or Touch, and Taste.
Here is the link to What Senses Do Rabbits Use?
Please click and give it a read! It is full of great information, and I guarantee you will learn something valuable.
Final Thoughts
As we’ve discussed, the rabbit uses its tongue in many important aspects of its life such as:
- Eating and digesting food
- Drinking water
- Grooming for hygiene and to bond with other rabbits
Rabbit tongues feel warm to humans because the rabbit’s normal body temperature is 3 to 5 degrees higher than ours! And finally, rabbit do NOT have rought tongues like other animals such as cats.