Rabbits

Identifying Characteristics

• Smaller and have shorter ears than hares
• Long ears
• Long, powerful legs
• Short tail, usually small puff of fur, generally brownish (but white on the top in cottontails)
• Full-bodied, egg shaped
• Fur is generally long and soft, ranging in colors form shade of brown, gray, and buff (with exception of the Black Amami Rabbit of Japan and the Two Black-Striped species from Southeast Asia)

Their natural geographic range in the Western Hemisphere encompasses the middle latitudes.

In the Eastern Hemisphere, food. In Europe, portions of central and Southern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Sumatra, and Japan.

Generally 5 to 8 years in wild but can live as long as 12 years.

Prefer habitats composed of trees and shrubs.

Ground dwellers and live in environment ranging from desert to tropical forest and wetland.

• Must consume plant material in large quantities to ensure proper nutrition
• Diet is primarily grasses and forbs (herbs other than grasses)

No species is known to hibernate. They are active throughout the year and are generally nocturnal, also relatively silent.

• Generally product many offspring (kittens) each year
• Able to breed at a young age
• Litters of up to 7 young
• 4 to 5 litters a year

• Many dig burrows, but some such as the Cottontails and Hispid Hares do not
  Live in burrows dug into the soil
• Non-burrowing rabbits make surface nests called forms, generally under dense protective cover

• Gardens
• Landscaped places
• Where wild or cultivated lands. Border residential zones, parks, greenbelts, etc
• Vegetables: beans, beet, broccoli, carrot, lettuce, and peas
• Tree and berry crops: almond, apple, blackberry, cherry, citrus, pistachio, plum, raspberry, and strawberry
• Herbs: cilantro and parsley
• Ornamental plants: various flowers, shrubs, trees, and turf
• Gnaw/cut plastic irrigation lines, especially small diameter tubes
• Most damage is close to the ground, except in snow when snow allows them to reach higher portions of plants
• Twigs, buds from saplings, flower heads
• Gnaw the smooth, tin bark from young trees
• Rabbits can be carriers of tularemia, or rabbit fever. Relatively rare in humans, but can be contracted by handling an infected rabbit with bare hands or by eating insufficiently cooked rabbit meat