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Do Crows Eat Rabbits? [facts You Should Know]

Do Crows Eat Rabbits? [facts You Should Know]

Are you wondering whether crows can eat small live animals such as rabbits? We did some digging to answer that very question.

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Do crows eat rabbits?

Crows can hunt, kill and eat young, injured or sick rabbits. However, crows cannot easily hunt and kill a mature healthy rabbit since they do not have talons and strong beaks found in birds of prey such as owls, eagles, and hawks that hunt and kill mature healthy rabbits.

However, there have been some rare cases where a crow has been observed trying to direct a rabbit towards the road where they will be killed by motor vehicles and the crows will then eat the rabbit as carrion.

Do crows attack and eat live animals?

Crows will mostly prefer to eat dead animals or carrion rather than hunt for live animals. However, if a chance presents itself, crows will hunt small live animals and eat them.

Some of the small live animals that crows can hunt and eat include nestlings of other birds, rodents, rabbits, squirrels other small birds, and even snakes, fish, and frogs.

Will a crow take a rabbit?

Crows will attack and kill young, sick, or injured rabbits, however, a crow will not be able to take on a mature healthy rabbits. This is simply because crows are not birds of prey, that are equipped to hunt and take on a healthy and mature rabbit.

Birds of prey such as hawks and owls can hunt kill and even fly away with a rabbit, their strong talons enable them to hold on to the dead rabbit and their strong wings help them to handle their own weight and that of the rabbit.

While crows can fl away with a young rabbit or other small animals such as squirrels, mice or rats, or chipmunks. They might not be able to fly away with a mature rabbit due to its weight since they lack talons and mighty wings.

Nonetheless, despite the fact that crows cannot kill a mature healthy rabbit, Virtual Nature Trail at Penn State New Kensington reports that crows can gang up against a rabbit and direct it to the road where it may get hit by a vehicle and the crows will proceed to eat it as carrion.

Do crows attack baby rabbits?

Crows will comfortably attack, kill and eat a baby rabbit without any issues, depending on the size of the baby rabbit, crows may even be able to fly away with the baby rabbit.

However, it should be noted that the fact that crows are not birds of prey, it will take them a bit longer to kill even a baby rabbit. And even longer to kill a mature injured or sick rabbit.

How does a crow attack and kill a rabbit?

While it will take birds of prey a very short time to kill and eat a rabbit, it takes a crow a bit longer to kill even a baby, injured, or sick rabbit.

Like when hunting rodents, crows will try to attack the rabbit from behind by pecking on its tail. Since they do not have strong curved beaks like the birds of prey, theirs is a game of patience and persistence.

Crows also lack strong talons that can hold rabbits and tear them apart. However, when they encounter an injured rabbit then the killing process can be easy and faster since they will concentrate on the injured part.

Can other birds kill rabbits?

Apart from crows, there are other birds that are more lethal than the crows. Birds of prey such as eagles, hawks, and owls are notorious predators of rabbits and can comfortably hunt and kill a mature healthy rabbit.

While rabbits are not afraid of crows, they will escape as fast as they can when they spot a hawk, eagle, or owl.

These birds of prey are capable of swooping rabbits using their strong talons and killing them as they fly.

What would kill a rabbit and not eat it?

Apart from crows that will kill and eat rabbits, there are animals such as raccoons, possums, and housecats that will kill a rabbit when they encounter each other and not eat the rabbit.

If you experience your rabbits dying in large numbers and they are not being eaten especially during the night, these animals can be the culprits.

This does not that these animals will not eat the rabbits they have killed, excluding housecats, possums and raccoons are scavengers that like eating dead animals killed by other animals.

However, when they encounter a rabbit when they are foraging for food they might kill the rabbit as a way of protecting themselves.

Related Questions

Will crows hurt rabbits? Since crows do not have a strong and curved beak and talons, they normally kill a rabbit by pecking on it over and over. As a result, crows will end up hurting the rabbit before it kills it.

Do ravens eat baby bunnies? Just like crows ravens will also eat a baby bunny, injured or sick bunny. Their hunting skills are the same as those of crows. However, similarly to crows ravens cannot take on a mature and healthy bunny, unless it is a group of ravens.

Summary

While crows are scavengers eating almost anything that they come across. They are opportunistic feeders and will not pass an opportunity to hunt, kill and eat a rabbit especially if it an injured, young or sick rabbit. However, the fact that crows do not have strong beaks and talons like those of birds of prey. They normally kill rabbits by pecking on them which takes longer before the rabbits die.