European Rabbit

Lore & Background

The European rabbit has been hunted since the Paleolithic period and raised as a food source since at least the first century BCE. It is the only domesticated species of rabbit, and all known breeds of domestic rabbit are its descendants. It has often been introduced to exotic locations as a food source or for sport hunting. It has been introduced to at least 800 islands and every continent except Antarctica, often with devastating effects on local biodiversity due to a lack of predators.

The species is listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as it has faced population decline in its native range due to overhunting, habitat destruction, and diseases such as myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease. This decline has directly led to negative impacts on populations of the Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle, predators that rely on the rabbit as food.

Reader's Guide

European rabbits prefer grassland habitats and are herbivorous, mainly feeding on grasses and leaves, though they may supplement their diet with berries, tree bark, and field crops such as maize. Their main defence against predators is to run and hide, using vegetation and their own burrows for cover. Female rabbits leave the warren mainly to establish nests where they will raise their young. The European rabbit's closest relatives are the riverine rabbit, the hispid hare, and the Amami rabbit. As of 2025 there are two recognized subspecies: O. c. cuniculus (common rabbit) and O. c. algirus (Iberian rabbit). The common rabbit has a native range encompassing parts of southern France and north-east Spain, while the Iberian rabbit occurs in the south-west part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Did You Know?

• The European rabbit's generic name Oryctolagus derives from Greek words meaning 'burrowing hare'.
• The oldest known fossils of Oryctolagus cuniculus date to 0.6 million years ago in the Middle Pleistocene in southern Spain.
• The two recognized subspecies diverged during the Quaternary glaciation about 2 million years ago.
• The European rabbit gene IGKC1 shows up to 40% amino acid divergence between domesticated types and ferals.