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Susan Lumpkin

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John Seidensticker

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Read Time

7 min read

$26.50 on Amazon

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9 Best Science & Nature Books for Pet Owners and Animal Lovers
7 Essential Popular Science Books for Curious Readers
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Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide by Susan Lumpkin & John Seidensticker Review: A Rigorous, Curiosity-Driven Natural History

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2011 as part of The Animal Answer Guides: Q&A for the Curious Naturalist series, this illustrated paperback by wildlife conservationists Susan Lumpkin and John Seidensticker addresses 95 frequently asked questions about rabbits and their lagomorph relatives, covering everything from anatomy and ecology to conservation and the long, complex relationship between rabbits and humans.

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Wildlife educators, nature writers, and curious generalists — including engaged secondary-level students — who want a rigorous yet readable scientific grounding in rabbit biology, ecology, behavior, and conservation.

Worth it if

You want a serious, evidence-based Q&A reference that reveals the full ecological and cultural complexity of lagomorphs — including the sobering fact that several of the roughly 90 species are among the world's most endangered animals.

Skip if

You're a pet owner primarily seeking husbandry advice, or an academic zoologist who needs primary-literature depth rather than an authoritative but introductory-level overview.

Science News noted that the book surfaces little-known facts about familiar animals, highlighting that the roughly 90 rabbit species include several of the world's most endangered. NHBS describes the text as accessible in its coverage of anatomy, physiology, evolutionary history, ecology, conservation, behavior, and the rabbit-human relationship.

Sources: Science News, NHBS
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Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Ages 12–18

Reading level

Young adult

Browse all 12–18 books

Best for: Ages 14+ — scientific vocabulary, analytical scope across ecology and conservation, and secondary-level comprehension demands suit teen and adult readers.

Skip if you are a rabbit owner seeking practical husbandry or pet-care guidance, or an academic zoologist expecting primary-literature depth.

Trending Now
Movie/TV Adaptation

Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide (The Animal Answer Guides: by Susan Lumpkin, John Seidensticker is Trending

Netflix's 'Rabbit, Rabbit' Crime Drama Starring Adam Driver Sparks Interest in All Things Rabbit

Netflix has an upcoming crime drama called 'Rabbit, Rabbit' starring Adam Driver, and it's got people curious about rabbits in general. If you're riding that wave of rabbit-themed curiosity, this Q&A guide from wildlife conservationists is a solid place to land.

Netflix has an upcoming series called 'Rabbit, Rabbit' — a crime drama created by Peter Craig and starring Adam Driver as an escaped prisoner in a tense standoff with an FBI Crisis Negotiator. While the show isn't about actual rabbits, the title is drawing a lot of attention to anything rabbit-related right now, and that includes books.

When a high-profile title like this hits the cultural radar, it has a funny way of sending curious readers down unexpected rabbit holes (pun intended). 'Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide' by Susan Lumpkin and John Seidensticker is one of the books benefiting from that spillover interest. It tackles 95 real questions about rabbits and their lagomorph relatives — covering their biology, behavior, ecology, and their long history alongside humans — making it a genuinely satisfying read for anyone whose curiosity got sparked.

The book is part of Johns Hopkins University Press's 'Animal Answer Guides' series, designed for curious naturalists who want real, accessible science without the dry textbook feel. If the Netflix buzz has you thinking more about rabbits than usual, this is a well-regarded place to dig deeper into what these animals are actually all about.

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Updated Sep 9, 2026
In This Review
  • What Works & What Doesn't
  • What the Book Actually Is and Does
  • The Authors' Credentials and Their Significance
  • Scope, Depth, and Surprising Content
  • Genuine Limitations and Audience Fit
  • Place in the Field and Lasting Usefulness

What Works & What Doesn't

What Works
  • Written by credentialed wildlife conservationists with institutional backing from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and Friends of the National Zoo
  • Covers roughly 90 rabbit species across 12 structured chapters, including conservation status, ecology, behavior, and the rabbit-human relationship
  • The Q&A format makes it easy to navigate by specific curiosity, functioning as both a reference and a cover-to-cover read
  • Includes bibliographical references and an index, supporting further research
  • Addresses surprising, little-known facts that challenge the familiar cultural image of rabbits
What Doesn't
  • The episodic Q&A structure prioritizes discrete questions over a sustained analytical narrative, which may not suit readers seeking a traditional monograph
  • The book is aimed at curious generalists and engaged students rather than academic zoologists, so specialists may find some coverage introductory
A focused and authoritative Q&A guide that takes rabbits far more seriously — and reveals them to be far more complex — than casual familiarity might suggest.

What the Book Actually Is and Does

Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide (The Animal Answer Guides: Q&A for the Curious Naturalist) by Susan Lumpkin, John Seidensticker front cover
Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide (The Animal Answer Guides: Q&A for the Curious Naturalist) by Susan Lumpkin, John Seidensticker front cover
Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide is a science reference title, not a pet-care manual or a narrative natural history. It belongs to Johns Hopkins University Press's Animal Answer Guides series, which frames each volume around frequently asked questions posed by curious non-specialists. Lumpkin and Seidensticker structure the book across twelve thematic chapters — moving from an introductory overview through form and function, coloration, behavior, ecology, reproduction and development, foods and feeding, the rabbit-human relationship, "rabbit problems from a human viewpoint," "human problems from a rabbit's viewpoint," rabbits in stories and literature, and a concluding section the authors call "Rabbitology." The Q&A format gives readers a clear entry point regardless of where their curiosity begins, allowing the book to function as a reference to dip into or to read from cover to cover.
“human problems from a rabbit's viewpoint”

The Authors' Credentials and Their Significance

Both authors bring professional conservation credentials that shape the book's tone and authority. Susan Lumpkin is a freelance writer and editor specializing in natural history and conservation who served as director of communications at Friends of the National Zoo and editor of its ZooGoer magazine for nearly two decades. John Seidensticker is a conservation scientist and head of the Conservation Ecology Center at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and has served as chairman of the Save the Tiger Fund Council. Their combined backgrounds — one rooted in science communication, the other in field conservation research — position the book to be both scientifically grounded and accessible to a general readership curious about the natural world.

Scope, Depth, and Surprising Content

One of the book's clear strengths is the breadth of what it chooses to cover. The verified publisher description highlights facts that cut against the familiar image of the rabbit as a simple backyard creature: baby rabbits nurse from their mothers only once a day, and some cultures have historically brewed medicinal tea from rabbit pellets. These details signal the kind of unexpected, evidence-based content the Q&A format surfaces throughout. The book also covers the full span of lagomorph diversity — Science News noted that the roughly 90 rabbit species include several of the world's most endangered animals, a figure that reframes how readers might think about a group they assume to be thriving. The chapter on conservation addresses this tension directly: despite the cultural shorthand of rabbits as prolific breeders, Lumpkin and Seidensticker document that several species are among the most imperiled on Earth. A plate section of photographs accompanies the text, and the book includes bibliographical references and an index.

Genuine Limitations and Audience Fit

The Q&A structure, while an effective entry point, does carry trade-offs. Readers seeking a continuous narrative argument or a traditional monograph-style treatment will find the format episodic by design — it prioritizes answerable questions over sustained analytical through-lines. The book is also calibrated to a specific readership: curious naturalists, wildlife enthusiasts, and engaged secondary-level students rather than academic zoologists or working ecologists who would require primary literature. The publisher's designated reading age of 14–17 reflects this positioning. Specialists may find the treatment introductory in places where deeper technical analysis would serve the subject. Those who come to the book primarily as pet owners seeking husbandry advice may find that its wild-ecology and conservation emphasis takes the book in a different direction than they anticipated.

Place in the Field and Lasting Usefulness

What makes Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide worth attention beyond its immediate audience is the seriousness it brings to a subject that popular publishing tends to treat superficially. By situating rabbits in their full ecological, behavioral, and cultural context — including a dedicated chapter on their role in stories and literature — Lumpkin and Seidensticker make a case that lagomorphs repay sustained study. The inclusion of bibliographical references gives motivated readers a path toward deeper sources, and the series format from Johns Hopkins University Press ensures the book meets consistent standards of scientific communication. For wildlife educators, nature writers, and readers who want a rigorous but readable foundation in rabbit biology, this volume delivers scope and credibility that shorter popular treatments do not.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    Rabbits : the animal answer guide : Lumpkin, Susan : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

    archive.org

  3. 2
    Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide (The Animal Answer Guides: Q&A for the Curious Naturalist) by Susan Lumpkin and John Seidensticker

    sciencenews.org

  4. 3
    Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide - Susan Lumpkin, John Seidensticker - Google Books

    books.google.com

  5. Further reading
  6. 4
    Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide book by Susan Lumpkin

    thriftbooks.com

  7. 5
    Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide (The Animal Answer Guides: Q&A for the Curious Naturalist) - Lumpkin, Susan; Seidensticker, John: 9780801897894 - Abe

    abebooks.com

  8. 6
    Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide | NHBS Academic & Professional Books

    nhbs.com

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