Physiology
New Zealand whites have well-rounded bodies; slender and muscular faces with round cheeks; large, long back feet; and small, short front pectoral muscles (Rubins). They have long perforated ears that stand straight up. Unlike the thick, snowy fur on their bodies, their ears have shorter fur that allows the delicate pale pink of their skin to show through. The most noticeable characteristic of New Zealand white rabbits is their bright eyes, which range in shade from pale pink to bright ruby purple.
New Zealand white rabbits have large, broad, and muscular bodies. Bucks (males) weigh between 8-10 pounds, while the does (females) weigh between 9-12 pounds (Verhallen 23-35). In addition to their greater size, females are distinguished by the presence of a dewlap, which is flap of fur below the chin that is pulled for a nesting box during pregnancies.
Read more about this topic: New Zealand White Rabbit
Famous quotes containing the word physiology:
“A physician’s physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric’s divinity has to his power of influencing conduct.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“The world moves, but we seem to move with it. When I studied physiology before ... there were two hundred and eight bones in the body. Now there are two hundred and thirty- eight.”
—Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (1842–1911)
“If church prelates, past or present, had even an inkling of physiology they’d realise that what they term this inner ugliness creates and nourishes the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the active mind, and energetic body of man and woman, in the same way that dirt and dung at the roots give the plant its delicate leaves and the full-blown rose.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)