Why do rabbits hop?
by 
buttercuplover
ANSWERS: 9
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a) Because their hind legs are so much larger and stronger than their front legs, it's pretty much the only way they _can_ move -- walking with alternating left-front:right-hind:right-front:left-hind the way more "balanced" quadrupeds do would leave them with a remarkably awkward, lopsided, lurching, and remarkably inefficient gait. b) Because if you need one mad jink to get away from a predator, it's far from the worst way to do it.
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That is the only way they feel they can move along
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because they can't fly
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To cross over to the other side of the road.
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so they can carry the basket with the easter eggs in.
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Rabbits basically serve two purposes (well, three if you count domestication): as grazers, and as prey. Prey animals don't usually have much going for them in terms of offense or defence, but they do usually have one thing: speed. Rabbits, if given the chance to get going, are incredibly fast. They're able to run that fast because of how their bodies, specifically their hind legs, are constructed. That construction, when not being used to its full potential (by running), results in hopping as the most efficient way of getting around (walking one foot, then the other, etc., the way their bodies are constructed, would be awkward and ungainly).
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Because they can't run.
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they haz feet.. the back feet are long.. so if they would run.... they would probably fall often... ya know.. like goofy does sumtimes.. lol
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Because of the way they are built. It's a fast as easy gait for them to make split second decisions to run or jump away from their predators. A Manx cat is built very similar and they sort of rabbit hop when they run. It's the high back legs and being built kind of downhill.
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