Rabbit facts

• Pet rabbits are domesticated varieties of the endangered European rabbit.
• Wild rabbits typically live up to 3-4 years. 
• Rabbits weigh 40-100g at birth and keep their eyes closed during their first seven days. 
• Rabbits can have 40-50 offspring in one year. 
• It’s normal for rabbits to eat their own poo.

With their soft fur, fluffy tails, large eyes and long ears, button noses and whiskers, it's easy to see why rabbits are such popular pets. Pet rabbits descend from the now-endangered wild European rabbits, first domesticated for food and fur, and later used in medical research.

Like other animals domesticated for food or to be pets, there are many breeds of rabbit. Pet breeds, like the Flemish giant, are far bigger than their wild counterparts. One Flemish giant was reported to be 129cm (4.2ft) long. There is no consensus on the total number of rabbit breeds, though there could be more than 100 and possibly as many as 200, ranging from miniatures to giants.¹

Rabbits are active at night; their long ears and large eyes are more than just cute – they help them to detect predators in the darkness. They will also venture out in the day to eat or bask in the sunlight.

Rabbits must be watchful for predators coming from all directions – from birds of prey swooping from above to minks or weasels sneaking up behind them. They have eyes on the sides of their head, giving them near-360-degree vision, and long, finely attuned ears.² Rabbits’ large ears are not only useful for detecting predators but, similar to elephants, also help in regulating their body temperature.

Their diet mostly consists of grasses, but they will eat most vegetation on offer. One particularly quirky behaviour is that they eat their own poo. This helps them digest nutrients which were undigested the first time around. The scientific word for this yucky practice is ‘caecotrophy’.³ They produce two types of poo; hard and soft pellets. Hard pellets are always excreted outside of their burrows, while soft ones are excreted inside and eaten over the course of the day. 

Domesticated rabbits are tamer than their wild cousins but can still be quite skittish. Rabbits are genetically predisposed to be very fearful of humans and predators. Wild rabbits, even when raised by humans by hand or raised by a tame surrogate mother, rarely become as tame as pet rabbits.

Rabbits are famously prolific breeders. A young rabbit, depending on the breed, reaches puberty at about four or five months old and may have its first litter by six months.⁴

Pregnancy lasts around one month, during which time the expectant mother will start to pad her burrow with additional bedding in preparation for her offspring. The quality of the nest she builds has a strong bearing on the survival of her newborns.

Female rabbits can become more aggressive during pregnancy, and they will start to defend their nests ruthlessly.

Birth typically lasts 30 minutes, but can take several hours, or even days. Young rabbits are born bald, blind and defenceless, so must remain in their nests under the protection of their mother. If a newborn is pushed out of the nest, it will die very quickly from hypothermia. It’s not uncommon for mothers – or other rabbits – to cannibalise their young. This usually occurs if the mother is stressed or malnourished.

After giving birth, a wild rabbit mother will leave her young in warmth of the nest while she ventures to the surface to eat. The mother will return to the nest to feed her young once or twice a day, but she'll otherwise leave them alone. It might surprise some pet rabbit owners that mother rabbits do not show more signs of caring for their young, but it is normal for wild rabbits to spend very little time with their litter in their nest.

Although rabbit kits are very vulnerable for their first few days – their eyes remain closed for the first seven days after birth – they mature quickly and are ready to explore outside the warren within a few weeks. ⁵

Rabbits can have an astonishing number of offspring, hence the expression "breed like rabbits". A mother can be nursing one litter while pregnant with another, so it is possible for a female rabbit to have six litters each year, perhaps totalling 40-50 offspring.

Rabbit societies in the wild are strongly hierarchical. The top male controls the group and protects them from intruders. Rabbits mark their territories using scent glands under their chins and around their genitals. When males reach old age, they are replaced by a younger rival and cast away from the group to live alone.⁶

Wild rabbits are territorial and typically live in groups of up to around 20 – vigorously defending their space and fighting off intruders with their paws. When threatened, rabbits thump the ground with their hind paw as an alarm signal to other group members. After reaching puberty, young males leave the group to join other warrens, while females generally remain with their family group.

Rabbits like to live between open areas of grassland, where they can find their food, and the edges of woodlands, where tree cover protects them from their main predators – birds of prey. Their burrows, or warrens, are crucial safe havens where they raise their young and evade larger predators, like birds and lynxes. However, smaller predators, like minks and weasels are able to navigate these tight spaces.

The European rabbit can dig long and complex warrens, which can be 3m (9.8ft) deep and 45m (148ft) long. Warrens are made up of a series of tunnels and chambers. The tunnels are around 15cm (0.5ft) in diameter – too narrow for most predators – and the chambers are 30-60cm (1-2ft) high. Of the other rabbit species, the American cottontails do not dig their own warrens, but borrow the burrows of other species.

Wild rabbits mostly forage at dusk, dawn or night under the cover of darkness, and never stray too far from their burrow so that they can quickly bolt underground if a predator approaches. Warrens are not only used by rabbits as safe harbours from predators. Toads and snakes, among other animals, also seek shelter in these networks of tunnels.⁷

Rabbits are social animals, with distinctive and unique personalities. Having a companion improves their mental and physical health. Pairs of rabbits form close bonds which can last a lifetime. Bonded rabbits groom each other, which helps to remove parasites and reinforces social bonds. However, not all rabbits get on, and if they fight when kept as domestic animals, they should be separated for their welfare. Some people keep guinea pigs with rabbits, but this is not recommended as rabbits can be violent towards guinea pigs.

After the last ice ages, which ended 11,700 years ago, the European rabbit’s natural range was limited to Portugal, Spain, southwestern France and possibly North Africa. It was the Romans who introduced the European rabbit to the rest of Europe. They were only truly domesticated 200 years ago, but already the European rabbit has now spread from Europe as far west as the Americas and as far east as Australia.⁸

The abundance of rabbits in some areas and their status as pests in certain countries have led to their reputation of being problematic. As a result, they have been excessively hunted even in regions where their populations are actually declining.

The spread of myxomatosis – a virus transmitted by fleas and mosquitos – and other rabbit diseases, habitat loss and hunting have led to a decline in wild European rabbit populations in their native habitat on the Iberian peninsula. In the latter half of the 20th century, their levels fell to 5-10% of their peak in the first half of the century. As a result, and despite there being millions of European rabbits worldwide, they are considered endangered in their native home.

Myxomatosis appears to be deadlier for European rabbits compared to species native to North and South America, prompting some to explore whether the disease could be used to control their populations. In Australia, where European rabbits are a significant pest, a  strain of myxomatosis has been intentionally introduced to limit their numbers.

Rabbits play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystems, making their protection highly beneficial. They are a primary food source of many predatory birds and mammals, including the critically endangered Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle.⁹ Remarkably, 80-100% of the Iberian lynx’s diet consists of European rabbits. Additionally, rabbits help regulate ecosystems by eating grasses and cereals, which promotes biodiversity and improves soil health by keeping these plants in check.

Rabbits and their closest cousins, hares, share a similar shape but differ in size and behaviour. Hares are larger, with longer, slender legs, and unlike rabbits, they spend most of their time above ground. They do not build warrens like rabbits, but instead they nest at ground level.

Like their cousins, hares are also social creatures. They can sometimes be seen “boxing” – standing on their hindlegs and striking each other with clawed fists. They do this to fend off rivals, intruders or to resolve squabbles.

In the Americas, hares are often referred to as “jackrabbits”. For instance, the North American jackrabbit, scientifically known as Lepus californicus, is a hare species.¹⁰

Despite some physical similarities, rabbits and hares are not rodents. They belong to an entirely separate order, which also includes the smaller, rodent-like pika.

Featured image © Gary Bendig | Unsplash

Fun fact image © UNIKYLUCKK | Shutterstock

1. Alves, Joel M., Miguel Carneiro, Sandra Afonso, Susana Lopes, Hervé Garreau, Samuel Boucher, Daniel Allain, et al. 2015. “Levels and Patterns of Genetic Diversity and Population Structure in Domestic Rabbits.” Edited by Samuel Rezende Paiva. PLOS ONE 10 (12): e0144687. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144687;

Marín-García, Pablo Jesús, and Lola Llobat. “What Are the Keys to the Adaptive Success of European Wild Rabbit (Oryctolagus Cuniculus) in the Iberian Peninsula?” Animals, vol. 11, no. 8, 20 Aug. 2021, p. 2453, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082453. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

2. Varga, Molly. “Rabbit Basic Science.” Textbook of Rabbit Medicine, 2014, pp. 3–108, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7158370/, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7020-4979-8.00001-7.

3. “What Are the Keys to the Adaptive Success of European Wild Rabbit (Oryctolagus Cuniculus) in the Iberian Peninsula?” Animals, vol. 11, no. 8, 20 Aug. 2021, p. 2453, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082453.

4. “Rabbit Basic Science.” Textbook of Rabbit Medicine, 2014, pp. 3–108, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7158370/, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7020-4979-8.00001-7.

5. Sevilla), Miguel Delibes-Mateos (Universidad de, and Rafael Villafuerte (Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados). “IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Oryctolagus Cuniculus.” IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 15 Aug. 2018, www.iucnredlist.org/species/41291/170619657.

6. “Rabbit Basic Science.” Textbook of Rabbit Medicine, 2014, pp. 3–108, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7158370/, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7020-4979-8.00001-7.

7. “What Are the Keys to the Adaptive Success of European Wild Rabbit (Oryctolagus Cuniculus) in the Iberian Peninsula?” Animals, vol. 11, no. 8, 20 Aug. 2021, p. 2453, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082453.

8. Addley, Esther. “Ben-Fur: Romans Brought Rabbits to Britain, Experts Discover.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 18 Apr. 2019, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/18/ben-fur-romans-brought-rabbits-to-britain-experts-discover. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024.

9. “IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Oryctolagus Cuniculus.” IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 15 Aug. 2018, www.iucnredlist.org/species/41291/170619657.

10. “Rabbit Basic Science.” Textbook of Rabbit Medicine, 2014, pp. 3–108, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7158370/, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7020-4979-8.00001-7.