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February 28, 2007

Bunny Binkies & Weasel War Dancing

My first pet, like most, was a puppy. His name was Ashes and he would get so excited that he would run like crazy in circles and jump around, crash into things. We all thought it was funny, but it was nothing compared to the wacky behavior we have seen in our pet bunnies.

My husband and I adopted two house rabbits (litterbox trained) when we first got together about a decade ago. Bit and Nibble are quite elderly now (about 12 years old) but when they were younger and got excited, they would do what we called "the happy dance".

The first time we saw Bit do it, we thought something was wrong. She would have these bursts of energy and do these gyrations in mid-air (video). Hop sideways, backwards, off walls. My personal favorite move was when she would jump and land in the opposite direction, and then go still.

Of course at the time, we thought she was having convulsions and that we had done something wrong. Then Nibble started doing it too. At the peak, we had 6 rabbits in the house, and when they were all out together, they would dance over and under each other, leaping and wiggling. It was a sight. I think I have some video of it somewhere. I've since learned that most bunny owners call this behavior binkying.

I recently learned that this happy dancing behavior is not just limited to rabbits. Members of the weasel family, especially pet ferrets, have been known to do something similar, called the Weasel War Dance (video).

While rabbits tend to dance or binky just out of happiness, ferrets seem to do it more as a kind of victory dance. Perhaps thats the difference between prey and predators.

The weasel war dance is a colloquial term for a behavior of excited ferrets. The war dance usually follows play or the successful capture of a toy or a stolen object. It consists of a frenzied series of sideways and backwards hops, often accompanied by an arched back, dooking (chuckling) or hissing noises, and a frizzy tail. Although the weasel war dance may make a ferret appear frightened or angry, they are often just excited and are usually harmless to humans.

More at: Wikipedia: Weasel War Dance

Posted by sorsha at February 28, 2007 12:19 PM