Do you believe that rabbits chew cud?

Question

Your God does ... he said it twice (Leviticus 11:6, Deuteronomy 14:6-7).

Answer 1

oh, bible says so!

it must be true!

bleh!

Answer 2

They chew something. They are always chewing, just like a cow.


In modern English, animals that ‘chew the cud’ are called ruminants. They hardly chew their food when first eaten, but swallow it into a special stomach where the food is partially digested. Then it is regurgitated, chewed again, and swallowed into a different stomach. Animals which do this include cows, sheep and goats, and they all have four stomachs. Coneys and rabbits are not ruminants in this modern sense.

However, the Hebrew phrase for ‘chew the cud’ simply means ‘raising up what has been swallowed’. Coneys and rabbits go through such similar motions to ruminants that Linnaeus, the father of modern classification (and a creationist), at first classified them as ruminants. Also, rabbits and hares practise refection, which is essentially the same principle as rumination, and does indeed ‘raise up what has been swallowed’. The food goes right through the rabbit and is passed out as a special type of dropping. These are re-eaten, and can now nourish the rabbit as they have already been partly digested.

It is not an error of Scripture that ‘chewing the cud’ now has a more restrictive meaning than it did in Moses’ day. Indeed, rabbits and hares do ‘chew the cud’ in an even more specific sense.

Answer 3

Yes I do.

I also believe they don't lay eggs.

Answer 4

I wonder if they also moo when we arent looking?

Answer 5

Nope. And he isn't my god.

Answer 6

worse than that - they eat their poo and digest it again

Answer 7

BS