ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2019
What Makes a Rabbit Cute? Preference for Rabbit Faces Differs according to Skull Morphology and Demographic Factors.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Motion-based baby schema in infant gait: inversion effect and the influence of maternal experience.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Selective attraction to shorter muzzles in dogs is a hidden driver of the brachycephalic welfare crisis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Beauty versus the beast: The UK public prefers less-extreme body shapes in brachycephalic dog breeds.The Veterinary record · 2025Article
- Copy-cat evolution: Divergence and convergence within and between cat and dog breeds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Bacterial Diversity in Pet Rabbits: Implications for Public Health, Zoonotic Risks, and Antimicrobial Resistance.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Perception of dog health and attitudes towards BOAS grading among Danish owners of French bulldog.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- Rabbit intakes and predictors of their length of stay in animal shelters in British Columbia, Canada.PloS one · 2024Article
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- Demography, disorders and mortality of pet hamsters under primary veterinary care in the United Kingdom in 2016.The Journal of small animal practice · 2022Article
- Pandemic Puppies: Characterising Motivations and Behaviours of UK Owners Who Purchased Puppies during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Climate Change and Companion Animals: Identifying Links and Opportunities for Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies.Integrative and comparative biology · 2021Article
- Exceptional Changes in Skeletal Anatomy under Domestication: The Case of Brachycephaly.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Domesticated rabbits typically exhibit shorter, flatter skulls than their wild counterparts (brachycephalism). However, brachycephaly is associated with considerable health problems, including problems with dentition. The aim of this study was to establish which type of rabbit face people prefer, with a particular emphasis on skull morphology and brachycephaly. We grouped 25 images of rabbit faces by cephalic degree based on ratings assigned by 134 veterinary professionals. An online questionnaire was then launched, in which people could rate each of the 25 images according to preference for the rabbits' faces, and a total of 20,858 questionnaires were completed globally. Repeated-measure, multi-level general linear modelling revealed mildly-brachycephalic rabbits to be the most preferred type of rabbit, and moderately-dolichocephalic (longer skulled) rabbits to be the least preferred. The preference for brachycephalic rabbits was stable across continents, and as such it is highly plausible that human preference has been a driver for the shortening of the skull typically seen in domestic rabbits, perhaps as a result of the 'baby-schema'. Additional features of rabbit faces that were preferred include a soft, medium-light fur appearance and being generally short-furred. These novel insights may prove useful in the improvement of the public understanding of rabbit health and welfare. The relationship between preference and skull shape is particularly pertinent to future work concerning rabbit health, given the cross-species evidence that having a flat face is associated with chronic health conditions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.