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Old World rabbit - ORYCTOLAGUS CUNICULUS
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Rabbit": "Rabbit" is probably the diminutive of the Flemish word for the animal, "robbe." Of course, "Old World" refers to the land of the explorers, Europe, while "New World" refers to North and South America.
Location: Europe, but also introduced into Australia, Chile, and elsewhere.
Habitat: Terrestrial. Sandy terrain, with scrub and bushes or coniferous woodland.
Description: This is the ancestral species for all domestic rabbits. The coat varies considerably in color, although it is usually gray with reddish highlights on the back and almost white underneath. The lower part of the tail is white, and the barely three-inch-long ears are shorter than those of hares. The ears have a rather indistinct black edge at the tips. These rabbits can grow a little more than a foot and a half long, including tail, and they weigh three to five pounds.
Behavior: This species is most active at night. It lives in large colonies, and has shared burrows with various entrances and numerous chambers. It rarely strays more than sixty feet from its burrow, and it feeds on tender plants, but in winter will eat the bark of trees.
Reproduction: This rabbit is very prolific. It can produce three or four litters per year, each one with six to eight young (and sometimes as many as 12!). Gestation lasts about 30 days. The young are born in a special burrow at a distance from the main colony. The nests of the newborns consist of a single chamber lined with fur.
Note: In areas where this rabbit abounds, it can be a severe agricultural pest.
Go to the Rabbits Page to get a general discussion of this order of animals.
Go to the Rabbits Index to study the other rabbits and hares included in America Zoo.
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