European rabbit

Introduced from the Mediterranean by the Normans in the 12th Century, the familiar European rabbit is now found throughout Britain and Ireland. However, it is absent from the Isles of Scilly, Rùm, and some smaller islands.

Taxonomy chart

Animalia - Chordata - Mammalia - Lagomorpha - Leporidae - Oryctolagus - O. cuniculus

Conservation status: UK Red List

GB: N/A

England: N/A

Scotland: N/A

Wales: N/A

Global: Near Threatened

Species information

Habitat: Urban and gardens, deciduous woodland, grassland, mixed woodland, arable land.

Description: The rabbit has long ears without black tips and long hind legs; its colouring is sandy and less reddish than brown hare. The rabbit is smaller than the hare and has a bobbing gait, rather than the loping gait that hares have.

Size: Up to 40cm.

Weight: 1.2 – 2kg. Male usually heavier than females.

Lifespan: Rabbits don’t often live for more than 3 years. Over 90% die in the first year of life, and most of these in the first three months.

Origin and distribution

There are a number of reports now indicating that rabbits were originally brought over by the Romans in the 1st century. What remains unclear is when a wild breeding population was established after this. Rabbits are now widespread throughout Britain and Ireland, but are absent from Rum, Isles of Scilly and a few smaller islands. Rabbits can be found almost anywhere they can burrow: sand dunes, railway verges and even in urban areas. The most suitable areas are those where the burrow area and food supply are side-by-side, such as woodland edge and hedgerows. Open warrens are maintained where good burrowing conditions exist on areas of short grass, sand dunes, railway verges and in urban areas. They are rarely found above the tree-line and avoid damp conditions and areas deep in conifer woodland.

Diet

Rabbits eat a wide range of plants including grasses, cereal crops, root vegetables and young shoots of meadow plants. They will eat tree bark especially when snow covers other food sources.

General ecology

The random network of tunnels, dens and bolt holes is known as a warren. Tunnelling is undertaken predominantly by the female. The depth of the burrows depends on the nature of the soil and the height of the water table. Large warrens usually imply a high population of rabbits. Rabbits are normally nocturnal but will come out in daylight if undisturbed, especially during the long days of summer.

Social groups vary from a single pair to up to 30 rabbits using the same warren. Within large groups there is a distinct social hierarchy. Origins of status are not known. The most dominant males, known as bucks, have priority of access to females, known as does. The most dominant does have access to the best nest sites. Bucks and does seldom fight with each other. Competition between does for nest sites can lead to serious injuries and death. In groups with more than one female and more than one male, rabbits are not monogamous. Lower ranking rabbits may be forced to breed in single entrance breeding “stops” away from the main burrows where they and their young are more vulnerable to predators.

Breeding

The breeding season is mainly from January to August, producing one litter of 3-7 young per month. The doe constructs a nest inside a burrow from grass bedding and lines it with soft fur from her chest and belly. The young kittens are born blind, deaf and almost hairless. Their eyes open at 10 days, they begin to appear at the burrow entrance at 18 days and are weaned at 21-25 days. Bucks are able to mate at 4 months, does at 3.5 months. Young rabbits are preyed on by badgers, buzzards and weasels. Rabbits of all ages are taken by foxes, cats, stoats and polecats.

Conservation status

Rabbits have no legal protection in Britain and landowners control their numbers to prevent them damaging neighbours’ land. In the middle of the 19th century rabbit numbers increased dramatically, becoming major agricultural pests. Their increase was due to the large scale planting of hedgerows, providing shelter and burrows in the loosened soil. New agricultural technology increased cereal production, increasing their food supply, and large numbers of the rabbits’ natural predators were killed by gamekeepers on new shooting estates. By 1950 rabbits destroyed approximately £50 million worth of crops per year, but the virus myxomatosis appeared, and within 2 years 99% of the population had died. Rabbits are developing resistance, though outbreaks still occur. The population has largely recovered and rabbit damage is estimated at over £100 million/year.

Identification

Grey brown fur with black upper side to tail and white underside of tail (white underside raised when alarmed). Ears about same length as head. Brown eyes (brown hares have noticeably lighter amber eyes). Smaller than hare without the black tips to the ears that the brown hare has.

Field signs: Download your printable field sign guide below.

Footprints: Tracks can be seen in mud and sand, but often easiest to identify in snow, as seen in the photo. Rabbit footprints are similar to hare, but smaller in size. Four pads on both fore and hind feet. Hind feet are often an elongated slipper shaped impression. Width 2.5cm, length 3.5cm.

Droppings: Droppings are often found in grassland habitats, field edges and hedgerows. May be found in dense collection of pellets on prominent feature (e.g. anthill). 10mm in diameter. Colour: yellowish brown-green. Smell: Sweet smelling, like a damp digestive biscuit with a hint of mown hay.pp.

Download resources

General fact sheet

Field sign fact sheet