Rabbit (Lepus cuniculus), a well-known rodent in the same genus as the hare, from which it differs in some external features and yet more in its habits. The rabbit is smaller than the hare, with shorter head, ears, and legs; the ears are shorter than the head, and have no black patch at their apex, or at most a very small one; the hind-legs are not so much longer than the fore-legs as they are in the hare; the predominant colour is gray. Moreover, the rabbit brings forth blind and naked young, which it nurtures in the safe retreats afforded by the burrows. These burrows are often of great length, have a crooked course, and generally several openings. Rabbits live socially, and prefer for their warrens places where the soil is loose and dry, and where furze or other brushwood affords additional shelter. They feed on grass, herbs, and tender bark. Their reproduction is very prolific, for breeding may occur four to eight times during the year, the period of gestation lasts only thirty days, three to eight young are born at once, and sexual maturity is reached in about six months. A tame rabbit has been known to bear fifty-eight young in a year, and Pennant calculated that from one mother no less than 1,274,840 descendants might result by the end of four years, assuming that all the members of successive generations survived and reproduced. The young are born—naked, blind, and helpless—within the burrow in a special brood-chamber or nest lined by some of the mother's fur. The mother-rabbit takes much care of her young, nor is the male lacking in affection, though in abnormal conditions he sometimes destroys the brood. For periods at least rabbits are monogamous, and the males exhibit much affection for their mates and hatred of rivals. The normal length of life seems to be about seven or eight years. The gregarious life of a rabbit warren needs no description, but it may be noticed that adjacent burrows sometimes intersect. The senses of rabbits are acute, but their intelligence is not highly developed. They are most active in the gloaming and darkness. Their chief enemies are birds of prey such as hawks and owls, and carnivores such as fox and weasel. By stamping with the hind-legs the older rabbits give signals when danger threatens. It is said that the whiteness of the exposed under sides of the tails is of advantage in indicating the direction of movements, but one would think that it must be also disadvantageous in making the retreating rabbit more conspicuous.
Tame rabbits are varieties of the wild form, modified by the artificial selection usually associated with domestication. Among the more important breeds are the 'silver rabbits' with bluish-gray silvery fur, the 'Russian rabbits' with gray body and brown head, the 'Angora rabbits' with short ears and very long silken fur. Albinos with white hair and red eyes are common. The domestic varieties, especially the last, are much less hardy than those which run wild. Some remarkable modifications have occurred among rabbits in which cross-breeding has been prevented by insulation. Thus there are local varieties in the Falkland Islands and in Jamaica. Most remarkable are the dwarf-rabbits of Porto Santo, one of the Madeiras, which are said to be the descendants of a single litter left there in the beginning of the 15th century. These are so much modified that they do not breed with other rabbits. Hybrids between hare and rabbit are not uncommon in France. In regard to the keeping of tame rabbits, it may be noticed that they eat almost any kind of vegetable food; the coarser blades of cabbages, turnip-leaves, celery-tops, carrot-tops, and other produce of the garden, not suitable for human use, are readily consumed by them, as well as chickweed, sow-thistle, dandelion, and many other weeds. When the rabbit-enclosure contains a plot of grass and clover it affords them an important part of their food. Great care is requisite to keep their boxes dry, neglect of which, and a too exclusive feeding with green and succulent food, cause diseases, often fatal, particularly to the young. Dry food, such as corn, ought to be frequently given; and aromatic herbs, such as parsley, thyme, and milfoil, not only tend to preserve the health of rabbits, but to improve the flavour of their flesh. It is usual to give no water to tame rabbits; but it is better to supply them regularly with it, and the females need it after producing young. See books by 'Cuniculus' (1889), Edwards (2d ed. 1887), Knight (1889), Rayson (2d ed. 1889), J. Simpson (1893), and J. E. Harting (1898).
It is believed by many that Spain was the original home of rabbits, and that they were, until comparatively recent times, confined to the Mediterranean region. It is certain that in Spain, and still more in the Balearic Isles, they did tremendous havoc in the 1st century B.C.; still it seems that bones of rabbits have been found in Quaternary deposits north of the Alps. Rabbits spread very rapidly. In some parts of Scotland they were hardly known in the 18th century, though elsewhere they abounded. Their introduction into Ireland is also recent. They are not able to stand great cold, and are therefore absent from Scandinavia and North Russia. The most signal instance of their rapid distribution is to be found in their present abundance in Australia and New Zealand, into the latter of which countries seven rabbits were first turned out near Invercargill, apparently about 1860. As to Australia, the agent-general for New South Wales writes (1891) that 'this department is unable to state the exact date when rabbits were introduced into the colony, but it is certain that they existed about forty years ago.' And according to the Victorian Year Book for 1887-88, tame rabbits were kept in Victoria during the early years of the colony (towards the middle of the 19th century); but rabbits were first turned out on an extensive scale by a landed proprietor in the western district. They bred rapidly, and for several years there was a demand for couples for breeding purposes in most districts, nobody guessing what a plague they were to become. In both Australia and New Zealand they have spread and multiplied to an extent which seriously affects the prosperity of farmers and rearers of stock. The climate and soil are suitable and their natural enemies are few. Many endeavours have been made to exterminate them, but without success. Trapping, poisoning, and hunting them down produce only a temporary reduction of numbers. Pasteur proposed to infect them with fowl-cholera, and to some extent this has been tried. It has been lately suggested that only the females should be killed, so that the predominance of males might result in unnatural conditions fatal to continued existence. Most practicable at present is the use of wire netting. Thus, if the pools where the rabbits drink are surrounded with netting, thousands die of thirst in a short time. In New South Wales alone the onlay for rabbit destruction since 1883 has been over £1,000,000; as many as 27,000,000 have been killed in one year, and their skins paid for. California and Idaho have also suffered severely from the rabbit pest.
Besides eating up crops and pasture, rabbits often do great harm by barking young trees, and also by their burrowing. On the other hand, the white flesh of rabbits forms excellent food, the skin and the fur are much used, and, as Gilbert White noticed, rabbits by their nibbling make 'incomparably the finest turf.' The preserving of rabbits in tins is in some places an important industry. Rabbits are not technically game (see GAME-LAWS). The old English name for the rabbit is cony, but the cony of Scripture belongs to the genus Hyrax, anatomically a very different animal. See HARE, RODENTS.
RABBIT-SKINS have a regular commercial value in consequence of the hair being well adapted for felting purposes; its chief use is in making the bodies of felt hats and imitations of several of the more valuable furs. There has been a very large market in the United States for the imitation furs prepared from rabbit-skins, to which country British manufacturers have largely exported. Tasmania exports about 30,000 rabbit-skins per month to England. See FELT, FURS, HATS.