rabbit with no ears

Question
My grandson has been looking at rabbits for re-homing. He has fallen in love with a little doe that unfortunately has her ears eaten of by its mother shortly after birth. Do you think this bunny is likely to develope any serious problems. Look forward to your advice.

Answer
(I'm re-sending this because the AllExperts site was acting up, and I'm not sure if you got it the first time.  Sorry if it's a double!)

Dear Janet,

Aw, poor little bunny!  But actually, she might be *less* likely to develop ear-related problems than some other rabbits.  We have seen a very strong trend in lop-eared rabbits for ear infections, whereas up-eared rabbits tend not to have this problem.  A rabbit with no external pinnae (the "ears" we see) might have even better aeration of the ear canal, which promotes lower growth of bacteria.  So I wouldn't worry on that front.

The bunny will have a somewhat dampened ability to localize sounds, since rabbits swivel their external ears to figure out where sounds are coming from. But since she has two ears, she will still be able to localize sounds to a good degree.  Finally, because she lacks the "sound scoop" of an external pinna, she may not be quite as sensitive to sound as a bunny with ears (compare how you hear a sound with your  unaided ear versus how much better you can hear when you cup your hand around it, and you'll get a bit of an idea of what she's facing)--but she shouldn't have any internal problems with hearing unless there's something else wrong.

In  short, I would anticipate no unusual problems from her slight disability, and would adopt her in a heartbeat.  I'm so glad she'll have a happy home with you!

Good luck!

Dana