What is diastema? What is its role in rabbits?

Question

Benjamin Alvin · Accepted Answer

Diastema is a toothless gap on rabbit's jaw bone due to absence of canine. Diastema help in manipulation of food during mastication and "gnawing".

As we all know, rabbits are - for the most part - herbivorous animals (meaning that they live of vegetables as their main source of nutrition). For a moment, let's consider the ingredients and components of most vegetables.

Most vegetables belong to the plant kingdom - meaning that all veggies contain a cell wall within it's cells. Now, as you may be wondering, "what does this have to do with a rabbit's teeth structure?".

Well.

As mentioned above, veggies have a cell wall, of which the majority are composed of a strong material known as cellulose (when eating celery, there is a "stringy" bit - this is cellulose). Since veggies are composed of this durable material, it is generally harder to break down by using standard methods of chewing.

HOWEVER!

With a rabbit's diastema, it can easily gnaw or chew down any cellulose components while cheeks are used to close off the back of the mouth. This is possible because of presence of diastema. Furthermore, it can be used to enable them to push food to the molars for crushing, where it can be temporarily stored.

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Easton Bailey · Answer

undefined The diastema, or space between teeth, is a unique dental feature found in rabbits that divides the incisors on the front from the cheek teeth on the back. This gap makes it possible for the teeth to efficiently grind tough plant material into smaller pieces while the incisors cut and pull food into the mouth; furthermore, the diastema allows for the unique dental formula of rabbits, which consists of both large molars that are adapted for herbivorous feeding and peg-like incisors.