Why Rabbits Aren't Actually Rodents

Lagomorphs and rodents are superficially similar, so much so that, as the University of Texas at El Paso notes, they both used to be classified as rodents. After all, both rodents and lagomorphs are equipped with "ever-growing incisors and a diastema (space) separating the incisors from the cheek teeth." But "no rodent has more than a total of two upper and two lower incisors, whereas lagomorphs have a total of four upper incisors."

Another notable difference is species diversity within the two groups. Lagomorphs and rodents hopped and scurried (respectively) down very different evolutionary paths. The bunny trail led to fewer species because long-eared carrot-munchers had to compete with hoofed animals like horses, cows, pigs, and deer. As a result, there are fewer than 100 separate lagomorph species, and they tend not to vary very much in terms of size or physical traits. Bunnies aren't the only animals that are easy to confuse with rodents. Bats, which are often referred to as flying mice (in fact, the German word for "bat" is "fledermaus," which literally means "flying mouse"), are classified as  Chiroptera, not rodents.

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