The European rabbit is a wild rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa that lives in colonies and digs networks of burrows called . It is the only rabbit species ever domesticated, so every pet and farm rabbit descends from it. In the U.S., European rabbits live on a few islands where people released them, but the wild rabbits most people see are native cottontails.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 14–20 in (35–50 cm) long and 3.3–6.6 lb (1.5–3 kg). Wild rabbits are grayish brown with a pale belly and a tail that is white underneath. Domestic breeds come in many colors, sizes, and ear shapes.
Look-alikes
Cottontails have a rusty patch on the back of the neck and black-tipped ears. European rabbits lack the rusty patch, are more heavily built, and vary widely in color, including black, white, and spotted.
Why they get mixed upBrown feral rabbits look much like wild cottontails at a glance.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- short grassland
- scrub edges
- farmland
- islands
- Range
- Native to Spain, Portugal, southwestern France, and northwestern Africa. People have released it on every continent except Antarctica and on more than 800 islands. In the U.S., it spread to Smith Island and San Juan Island, Washington, starting around 1900 and later to other San Juan Islands; in the past it was also released on Laysan and Lisianski in the Hawaiian Islands.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers short grass with cover nearby, such as brush, rock piles, or hedgerows. It usually feeds within about 80 ft (25 m) of its burrow.
Behavior
- Diet
- Mostly grasses; in lean times it eats bark, seeds, and roots. Like other rabbits, it re-eats soft droppings to get more nutrients from its food.
- Activity
- When alarmed, a rabbit thumps the ground with its hind feet and dashes for a burrow, flashing the white underside of its tail.
- Social life
- Groups of one to five males and one to eight females share a warren. They mark territory with scent from chin glands and with shared latrines.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Young are born blind, deaf, and almost hairless in a nest inside the burrow. Their eyes open at about 11 days, and they leave the burrow at about 18 days.
- Gestation
- About 30 days.
- Litter size
- Typically three to seven young per litter (averaging five or six), with several litters a year.
Name and classification
- About the name
- The domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus) has its own page. The smaller rabbits of Portugal and southern Spain were long treated as a subspecies; recent classifications sometimes treat them as a separate species, Oryctolagus algirus.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- ENEndangeredVery high risk of extinction in the wild
- Status
- It is on the IUCN list of 100 of the world's worst invasive alien species, even though it is declining in its native range.
- Threats
- In its native range, numbers have fallen because of , rabbit hemorrhagic disease, overhunting, and habitat loss. A newer strain of rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV2) has also spread to wild rabbits in many U.S. states since 2020.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- Pet rabbit adoptions spike around Easter in the U.S., and many of those rabbits are later surrendered or abandoned, which is one way feral colonies start.
More species to explore
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