The rabbit is a familiar mammal with soft greyish-brown fur, long ears (without the black tips of hares), long hind legs and long black whiskers. Rabbits are smaller than hares and have a bobbing gait. Their tails are black on the upper side and whitish on the underside, the latter being visible when the rabbit is alarmed.

Behaviour

Rabbits can be found almost anywhere, urban gardens, moorland, farmland, grasslands, where they live in colonies in a system of burrows called a warren. They are rarely found above the tree-line and avoid damp conditions and areas deep in conifer woodland. Within large groups (up to 30 rabbits) there is a social hierarchy. 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. Competition between does for nest sites can lead to serious injuries and even death.

Rabbits are herbivores and eat a wide range of plants including grasses, cereal crops, root vegetables and young shoots of meadow plants. Rabbits are busiest at dusk and dawn, but come out in broad daylight if undisturbed, especially during the long days of summer.

Rabbits are prolific breeders producing one litter of 3-7 young per month from January to August. Bucks can mate at just 4 months and does at 3.5 months. Rabbits are not monogamous.

If chased by a predator, rabbits engage in quick, irregular movement, designed to evade and confuse, rather than to outdistance a pursuer. The long hind limbs and a strengthened pelvic girdle enable their agility and speed (up to 80km per hour).

Size

• Size: up to 40cm
• Average weight: up to 1.2 – 2.0kg
• Lifespan: 90% die in the first year of life; can live to 3 years

Status

Non-native and common. Rabbits have no legal protection in the UK, despite a significant drop in population, especially in Scotland in recent years.

Distribution

Originating from the western Mediterranean, it is generally accepted that rabbits were introduced to Britain by the Romans. Although widespread, they are absent from the Isle of Rum and Isles of Scilly.

When to see

Rabbits can be seen at any time of the year.

Facts

• It is thought that rabbits were introduced to the UK in the 12th century from their native range of Spain, Portugal and north western Africa. Initially captive bred for their meat and fur, many escaped and by the 16th century the rabbit was widespread across Britain.
• Young rabbits (kittens) are born blind, deaf and almost hairless. Their eyes open at 10 days.
• As their diet is hard to digest, rabbits eat their food twice. After eating they produce soft droppings that still have high nutritional value. They often eat these, and then produce hard pellets of waste material.
• Rabbits can be distinguished from the brown hare, by their dark brown eyes (the hare has amber eyes), lack of a black tip on their ears and smaller body size. The hare generally walks, whilst rabbits usually hop.
• Instead of sound, scent seems to play a predominant role in the communication systems of rabbits; they possess well-developed glands throughout their body and rub them on fixed objects to convey group identity, sex, age, social and reproductive status and territory ownership.