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How do animals (for example rabbits) get their vitamin D, if they can not expose their skin to sunlight as humans do, because of their fur?

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  • i guess an answer to this needs to be split into several parts as different animals get their vitamin D in different ways.
    – trond hansen
    Commented Jul 14, 2022 at 4:42

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I'm not a vet or scientist so this might be a surface level explanation, but understanding how vitamin D is created through sunlight is important for answering this question. For humans, Vitamin D is created when ultraviolet rays from the sunlight shine on our skin and react with the oils naturally present on our skin. The interaction between these oils (cholesterol) and ultraviolet light creates Vitamin D.

On humans what happens next is our skin absorbs that vitamin D. With furry animals it's a bit different. As you noted, they have fur and the fur prevents that absorption. But animals like cats, dogs, and rabbits (I believe!) ingest the vitamin D when they groom!

Here's a more in-depth article about this process in cats: https://antranik.org/the-offbeat-reason-why-cats-and-dogs-lay-in-the-sun-and-lick-their-fur/

Because you specified rabbits specifically I'll also note that indoor rabbits can struggle to get enough vitamin D because they're not exposed to enough sunlight: https://www.thedodo.com/indoor-rabbits-need-more-sunsh-504703908.html

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