Rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus

Rabbits are small, furry mammals with large rear feet and short, fluffy tails. Using their powerful rear legs, rabbits hop, run in spurts, and rapidly change direction. Humans raise rabbits as pets, or for meat and fur. Domestic rabbits are descended from wild Old World, or European, rabbits.

What They Eat
Rabbits are herbivores, or plant-eaters. Their long front teeth make it easy for them to tear tender leaves and grass. Domestic rabbits generally eat pelletized feed, along with fresh vegetables and plenty of water. Rabbits are able to get energy and nutrients from food that is low in both.

Where They Live
Wild rabbits live in a wide range of habitats, from arctic tundra to swamps to deserts. Domestic rabbits originally lived only in Europe but are now found wherever humans live. Around the world, rabbits adapt to the environment. In warmer climates, for example, rabbits have longer ears that keep them cool.

What They Do
Domestic rabbits are crepuscular, or most active at dawn and dusk. At night, they spend their time eating, drinking, and grooming themselves. During the day, they often nap.

How They’re Doing
Domestic rabbits exist in nearly 50 distinct breeds. They are not in danger of extinction. Some breeds however, such as the American Chinchilla, are endangered. A number of the domestic rabbit’s wild relatives, including the Riverine rabbit of South Africa, are in danger of extinction.

Helpful hints for viewing the animals

Rabbits can be seen in their hutches at the Wells Fargo Family Farm. Visitors may be allow to pet or feed rabbits with the help of Zoo staff and volunteers.

Rabbits are born year round, but there are usually more births in springtime than in other seasons. Guest Services can tell you when large numbers of new kits are in the Rabbitry.

Allow plenty of travel time to get to the farm from the Zoo entrance. Access to the Wells Fargo Family Farm is about halfway around the 1.4 mile Northern Trail Loop, near the Mexican Wolf exhibit.

 

  

Rabbit

The Minnesota Zoo is home to a small herd of domestic rabbits. Visitors may be allowed to pet and feed rabbits in the Rabbitry with help from Zoo staff and volunteers. Visitors may also peek into nest boxes to see litters of newborns, or kits.

Meet the Animals

The Zoo’s domestic rabbits belong to the Netherland Dwarf and Rex breeds. Of the two, Rex rabbits are considerably larger. The Rex rabbit’s velvet-like fur is short and upright.

The Netherland Dwarf rabbit is known for its small size and wide range of color. Mature rabbits weigh about 2 pounds and are available in more than 2 dozen color varieties.

Care at the Zoo

Rabbits at the Zoo are cared for from birth. Kits (baby rabbits) are very vulnerable. Does are transferred to nest boxes inside their hutches a little less than 1 month after breeding and before giving birth, or kindling.

Nest boxes are filled with soft materials, such as clean, dry hay and straw. The doe will burrow, forming a warm nest in the box. She will line the nest with fur pulled from her chest and belly.

Zoo staff make sure that nest boxes stay clean, replacing soiled bedding. They ensure that kits are warm and dry.

Kits are born without fur, and with their eyes closed. Unlike their hare cousins—born with fur and with eyes open—kits cannot hop shortly after birth.

Kits eat feed pellets and drink water once they leave the nest box. But they will continue to nurse until they are about 8 weeks old.

Weaned male and female kits are separated. Females are able to breed even before they are fully grown. Most female and male kits born at the Zoo are sold shortly after weaning.

 

Rabbit

What’s a Breed?
A breed is a group of animals or plants sharing common ancestors and many of the same traits. There are nearly 50 different breeds of domestic rabbit.

The herd at the Minnesota Zoo contains two domestic rabbit breeds: Netherland Dwarfs and Rex rabbits.

So Many Kinds
People have created different breeds for different purposes. Some domestic breeds were developed to provide meat. Other rabbits, including the Zoo’s Rexs rabbit, were originally bred for their pelts, which could be tanned and turned into clothing and other products.

Still more breeds are prized as pets. This is true of the Zoo’s Netherland Dwarfs, the smallest breed of domestic rabbit.

Rabbits are also bred for fibers that can be harvested from their coats. Long-haired Angora rabbits produce wool that can be sheared or plucked by hand, then spun into soft, warm yarn.

Specific breeds are created to reinforce or enhance certain traits. Netherland Dwarfs, for example, are a relatively new breed. Because the rabbits are small, breeders intended for them to be used as pets.

However, early Netherland Dwarfs were sometimes aggressive. Breeders recognized that to be successful as pets Netherland Dwarfs could not bite or attack humans.

Over time, breeders selected individual rabbits that were calm and easy-going. This selective breeding resulted in a small rabbit that is very energetic but also gentle and friendly.

Breeds at the Zoo

The Zoo’s pigs are crossbred. You’ll find more information here on four breeds typically used in crossbreeding today.
Netherland Dwarf
Rex

Netherland Dwarf

The Netherland Dwarf is the smallest of the domestic breeds. Mature rabbits weigh only about 2 pounds. These are compact animals, with round bodies and heads and alert, bold eyes.

Of all domestic rabbit breeds, the Netherland Dwarf has the greatest variety of colors. There are at least 24 different color variations.

Solids include all white (with red or blue eyes), lilac, blue, chocolate, and black. Netherland Dwarfs also exist in different shades, such as sable point, Siamese sable, and Siamese smoke pearl.

Agouti colors are chestnut, chinchilla, lynx, opal, and squirrel. Tan patterns include tan, otter, sable marten, silver, marten, and smoke pearl marten. Netherland Dwarfs are also found in fawn, Himalayan (ranging from black to blue or lilac), orange, steel, and tortoiseshell.

Netherland Dwarf does produce liters of 1-4 kits. Of these, as many as 50% may inherit a fatal form of dwarfism. Some does also carry the so-called “max factor gene” that causes mutations—frequently fatal—in kits.

Mothers tend to be skittish. They should not be bothered, if possible, before their young are at least 1 week old. Because some dams do not produce enough milk for all of their kits, some kits may be placed with other “foster mothers” for the first few weeks of life.

Netherland Dwarfs have relatively small, furry ears. Because their ears are smaller—and because the surface area of rabbit ears helps in cooling—Netherland Dwarfs are not very heat tolerant. They must be kept cool in hot weather or in warmer climates.

The Netherland Dwarf is a descendant of the Dutch rabbit, a small to medium rabbit with distinctive white and black coloring. In the early 1900s, dwarf rabbits began to be bred for use mainly as pets.

Very few Netherland Dwarf rabbits survived in their native Holland following World War II. But from the small surviving stock, several came to England. There, breeders continued to select for small size and other desirable traits.

Netherland Dwarfs first came to the United States in the mid-1950s. By 1969, the Netherland Dwarf was recognized as an official breed by the American Rabbit Breeders Association.

Rex

The Rex rabbit is a medium to large rabbit that may weigh as much as 10 ½ pounds. The Rex breed was developed primarily for its coat. Exceptionally short guard hairs—the same length as the undercoat hairs—give this breed a velvety feel.

There are about 16 different varieties of Rex rabbits, based on color and pattern. Solid colors include black, black otter, blue, Californian, castor, chinchilla, chocolate, lilac, lynx, opal, red, sable, seal, and white. Broken, or spotted, patterned rabbits are also common. Because of their unusual coat structure, Rex rabbits require regular grooming to avoid matting of fur.

The Rex breed was developed from common gray rabbits in Europe in the early 20th century. In 1919, Désiré Caillon of France began breeding rabbits that showed a short-hair mutation. These rabbit remained hairless for an unusually long time. Caillon selected indivduals for further breeding, eventually developing short-haired rabbits. A local abbot continued the work, naming the new breed Castor Rex—or Beaver King—in honor of the rabbit’s luxurious coat.

While originally prized for its pelts, the Rex is now more often raised as a pet or for meat.

 

Rabbit

If you want to know more about domestic rabbits, look no farther. This Rabbit Handbook contains general information on domestic rabbits and specifics about rabbits at the Wells Fargo Family Farm.

To help you navigate through the wealth of information, here’s a quick topic finder:
What Are Rabbits?
Rabbit Products

What Are Rabbits?

Both wild and domestic rabbits are small mammals belonging to the scientific order Lagomorpha. Originally rabbits were classed with rodents, such as hamsters, rats, and mice, in the order Rodentia. But there are enough differences between rabbits and rodents that rabbits eventually got their own grouping.

Many of those differences are inside the mouth. Rabbits have more sharp upper teeth than rodents do: two pairs of upper incisors rather than the rat’s single pair. These incisors grow continuously.

Like humans and some other animals, rabbits have both baby teeth and permanent teeth. Rodents have only one set of teeth for life.

The order Lagomorpha consists of two families: Ochotonidae, for hamster-like animals called Pikas, and Leporidae, the family of wild and domestic rabbits and hares.

Rabbits differ in important ways from hares. Rabbits are born nearly helpless—blind, deaf, and without fur. In contrast, baby hares are precocial. They are born with fur and open eyes. Hares can run and hop shortly after birth.

Rabbits are generally smaller than hares. The hare’s ears are larger than those of a rabbit and have black tips.

Rabbits are found around the globe and have adapted to a wide range of climates and habitats. Wild Swamp rabbits of the American Southeast are semi-aquatic. These rabbits have adapted to a marshy environment by becoming good swimmers. Worldwide, there are 49 species of rabbit. Of those, 17 live in the United States.

Minnesota is home to one native wild rabbit species, the Cottontail. Cottontails live across the Americas from southern Canada to Argentina and Paraguay. Minnesota is also home to two of the rabbit’s cousins: the showshoe or varying hare and the jackrabbit. (In spite of its name, the jackrabbit is a hare, not a rabbit.)

Domestic rabbits are descended from the Old World rabbit, a wild species from Europe still hunted for meat. Both wild European rabbits and domestic rabbits belong to the genus Oryctolagus, and the species cuniculus. (The word cuniculus means “rabbit” in Latin.)

Records exist of rabbits being kept by people to be used as food some 3,000 years ago. Over the centuries, as people traveled, they brought rabbits with them. Phoenician traders from the Eastern Mediterranean brought rabbits to Europe about 3,000 years ago. During the Roman Empire, the Ancient Romans frequently took rabbits with them as a food source, further spreading the animal’s range. After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 A.D., rabbits traveled to England.

Monks living in European monasteries are thought to have begun the process of  domesticating these Old World rabbits in the early Middle Ages. But rabbits were not truly domesticated until the 1500s.

Today, nearly 50 breeds of domestic rabbit exist. Domestic rabbits are different from their wild counterparts. After centuries of having been tamed by humans, they have smaller brains and bigger hearts. Senses that would normally be needed to survive in the wild—such as keen eyesight, hearing, and taste—are not as developed in domestic rabbits.

Domestic rabbits also behave differently than wild Old World rabbits. The domestic rabbit is a social animal but can live on its own as a pet. In contrast, its wild European ancestor lives in warrens, or colonies of linked underground tunnels and dens. While domestic rabbits will burrow, or dig, they do not create warrens.

In both domestic and wild rabbits, the female is normally larger than the male—unlike most mammalian species, where the reverse is true. Domestic rabbit does, or females, have a flap of fur-covered skin under the chin called a dewlap. Does tug fur from the dewlap before giving birth in order to line the nest.

In the wild, rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain. They are the common prey of eagles, foxes, badgers, and humans. Their status as prey animals has shaped both wild and domestic rabbit behavior.

Rabbits have long back legs that allow them to hop and run quickly when pursued. The soles of their feet are covered with hair, adding cushioning when rabbits jump and hop to evade predators.

Rabbits also have long ears that can move in the direction of sounds. In this way, rabbits hear when predators are near and quickly flee.

A rabbit’s eyes are located high on the sides of its head, giving it a wide range of vision, particularly up and to the sides. Rabbits have a blind spot, however, in the front of their faces. For this reason, humans should not offer their hands to a rabbit to sniff, as they might to a dog or cat.

Rabbits are prolific animals, which has helped them maintain large populations, even in the face of predators. In the wild, does may have 2-6 litters of 3-6 kits during the February to August breeding season.

Domestic rabbits tend to reproduce year round. One doe may bear as many as 50 young in a single year. Depending on the breed, rabbits can breed beginning at the age of 4 months. Does are capable of mating again as soon as their kits are weaned. And in nearly every case, mating results in pregnancy.

Gestation (pregnancy) lasts about 1 month, or 30-33 days. Babies are born altricial, or nearly helpless, without fur and with eyes closed. They will grow in a fur-lined nest, opening their eyes about 10 days after birth and growing fur gradually. Domestic rabbit kits are weaned at the age of 5-8 weeks.

Rabbit Products

Rabbits are raised for many purposes. They are used as pets, raised for wool, eaten as meat, prized for their pelts, and used in scientific research.

Domestic rabbits, such as the small Netherland Dwarf breed, are prized as a source of companionship when kept as pets. Long-haired Angora rabbits are raised for fiber that can be made into warm, soft woolens.

Larger rabbits, such as New Zealands and Champagne D’Argents, are raised for their meat. This meat is an important source of protein in many parts of the world.

Rabbit meat is all white meat. It is lower in fat and higher in protein per pound than chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, or pork. Worldwide, France is the leading producer and consumer of rabbit meat.

Rabbit pelts and parts are used for furs, fertilizers, toys, and novelty items. Fur from rabbits can also be made into felt for hats and other products.

In scientific laboratories, domestic rabbits are used to aide research into the causes and treatments for diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and asthma.