Are rabbits really related to horses?

Question

I read somewhere that rabbits are related to horses, but I'm not sure if they are or not.

Answer 1

Ancestors, Horses, Rabbits, Turtles -

All Are Relatives

http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/a...

West Nile Virus is another threat to rabbits, as they are related to horses. There are no vaccinations against this virus and it is fatal. Recourse against the disease includes limiting the number of mosquitoes that are around pet rabbits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_ra...

Answer 2

Actually million of years ago, the first order of mammals called therapsids split up, evolving every single kind of mammal into its own order of mammals. This order of animals contained the first true mammals. This really means that we (humans) are distant relatives to some of the oddest mammals on the planet.

But today, in modern times, the closest relative to the horse are the rhinoceroses and the tapirs (zebras and donkeys count as  equestrians). The closest relative to the rabbit today are hares and pikas (hares are not really rabbits).

Tapir-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

Pika-http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=3516

Here are some sights that may help you on this topic:

http://mv.lycaeum.org/mu/tree_of_evoluti...

http://www.biology-online.org/10/12_mamm...

http://www.smm.org/buzz/blog/mammal_ance...

Here's a story of one of the whales closest extinct ancestors:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

Here's some links about the horse's and rabbit's closest living relatives:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fhc/relatives5....

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/horse/?s...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika

Answer 3

Only in that both are mammals. By this reckoning, we humans are also related to horses, since we too are mammals. The relationship between horses and rabbits is therefore very distant.

The closest relatives of horses are other members of the family Equidae, such as donkeys and zebras. This family is part of the order Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates (hoofed mammals), which also includes rhinos and tapirs.

There are numerous species of rabbit, all of which belong to the family Leporidae, which also includes all the species of hare - these are the closest relatives of rabbits. This family belongs to the order Lagomorpha, which also includes pikas.

Answer 4

http://www.purpleslinky.com/Trivia/Rando...

no not rabbits..

read the link for 20 neat horse trivia points.. including their nearest (NON equine) relative...