Wild Rabbit: Rabbits in the wild. Eared brethren in nature: wild rabbits A wild rabbit is a migrant or not

Experienced rabbit breeders have long known that sometimes their animals acquire a grayish-brown color and become similar to their own. wild ancestor. Who is this? Wild European rabbit! We will tell you about him and his wild counterparts right now.

The wild European rabbit today can be found not only in Europe. Even at the beginning of our era, the ancient Romans took with them on campaigns an animal that was found in abundance in North Africa and in the Pyrenees. It had tender meat and the ability to reproduce rapidly. He took root in new places easily, since all he needed was juicy grass and soft soil to dig holes. In the video from Michael Billerbeck - one of these rabbits.

Later it turned out that the animal lends itself to selection - so rabbits from Europe became the ancestors of all modern breeds. It is the only wild species that humans have managed to domesticate. In total, there are about 20 species of wild rabbits in nature, which live mainly in America and Africa.

In Europe, as before, only one species lives - our friend. Back in the middle of the twentieth century, he destroyed crops and young gardens. But its population has been reduced to an acceptable size. But the Australians have to fight him to this day.

In the middle of the 19th century, settlers brought wild rabbits from Europe in the hope of having delicious meat for lunch. But it turned out that there were no predators that these animals would serve as food. What started here! Rabbits from Europe began to spread across the continent, multiplying exponentially. When foxes were brought to them “as a gift”, they set to work on less nimble food - marsupials. Then it was decided to build from north to south ... a fence - in the photo below one of its sections.

Main subspecies

In addition to the wild European, the American wire-haired rabbit is very numerous, numbering 13 species: Florida, river and swamp, pygmy, teporingo, steppe and others. They live in forests and bushes. They do not dig holes, preferring secluded places in pits or occupying other people's dwellings. We offer a more detailed look at all types in the plate.

Lifestyle

Rabbits have many enemies, and rarely survive to a natural death. Usually, by the end of the third year, only a third of the litter remains.

They require only grass and shrubs for food. Unlike hares, this is a collective animal living in small colonies of 8-10 individuals. A strict hierarchy reigns in the colony with the "supreme" male not at its top. It can occupy from 0.2 to 20 hectares, tearing out a whole underground “city” with emergency exits on “its” territory. As a rule, the rabbit does not go further than 100 meters from the course, preferring nightly forays for food.

reproduction

For a year, a rabbit can have several births with a total number of up to 40 babies. She usually gives birth underground. Newborns have no fur, are blind and deaf. The mother feeds them with milk several times a day, but by the end of the first month she can quit, preparing for a new replenishment. It's another reason short life eared.

Economic importance

Despite the delicious meat that rabbits are famous for, people's attitude towards them is contradictory. On the one hand, the European wild has become the patriarch of all domestic long-ears. And still serves as the subject of study in order to breed new breeds and maintain their good health.

wild rabbit continues to be an object of hunting for people. Especially in Australia, where its meat has even become one of the export items.

On the other hand, wild eared ones are enemies of crops and young trees. And therefore, not a single farmer rejoices at the appearance of a colony of these animals in his area, destroying them, if possible, as malicious pests.
But thanks to the fantastic fertility today, wild rabbits are not threatened with extinction. They continue to be part of the living diversity of our planet.

Photo gallery

Photo 1. Steppe subspecies or Audubon Photo 2. Swamp animal eats leaves Photo 3. Florida subspecies close-up

Video "Wild rabbit"

Sometimes a wild European rabbit has a hard time: in environment not enough nutrients. And he lets the food in... for the second round. You can learn more about the nutrition of animals from the video (DRUGOK.NET).

Some people, looking at cute and fluffy domesticated rabbits, tend to think that their relatives, who live in cruel wild nature, lead the same carefree life and only nibble on the juicy grass growing in the meadows. But this is an erroneous opinion, since each new day for them is a constant struggle for survival. A wild rabbit is always in search of at least some kind of food, regardless of the season, and besides, it still has to hide from all kinds of predators.

Description

That is why these small animals have such a body structure, thanks to which it will be easier for them to survive in harsh conditions natural environment. They are endowed unique abilities extracting their food from under the snow, they have excellent hearing, allowing them to hear the approach of a predator at a distance of thirty meters, even if it is not on the ground, but hovering in the air.

Outwardly, a wild rabbit looks like a hare. Its description can begin with the fact that it is small in size. The body length ranges from 32 to 46 centimeters, while it weighs no more than two kilograms. His hind legs are smaller than others and hares, and his ears are longer.

A wild rabbit is endowed with a heterogeneous color. His photos show that this animal has a brownish-gray coat on top, sometimes with a reddish tint. The abdomen and tip of the tail are slightly lighter, and a whitish stripe is visible on the sides, turning into a small spot in the upper part of the thigh.

A wild rabbit, unlike a hare, does not change its color during the year, but only two molts occur, as expected, in spring and autumn.

Where do they live?

Initially, these small animals lived only on the Iberian Peninsula, but thanks to the agricultural economic activity they were settled on almost all continents, except for Antarctica and Asia.

Currently, the wild rabbit lives in Russia, Ukraine, as well as in many countries of Europe and Africa. In addition, this small animal can be found on the islands of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and mediterranean sea.

These animals live only where there are bushes and low trees, but they can also live in steppes, forest belts and plantings. Their living conditions differ significantly from the way of life of hares, since a wild rabbit needs a smaller territory for its existence. The family of these small animals can easily get along on the land, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich varies from three to twenty hectares. For a more comfortable existence, they dig holes for themselves, reaching up to thirty meters in length.

home of small animals

Such tunnels can be seen in any open area with difficult terrain, it is there that a wild rabbit digs for himself. Where this small animal lives, only sandy soil prevails there, so that it is easier and more convenient for it to dig holes for itself.

The harsh conditions of survival forced these animals to hide as deep underground as possible, where you can hide away from predators. There they spend most own life. Such holes are dug mainly by females, and this takes a lot of time. They look like a nesting place with three exits to the surface.

Lifestyle

Thus, a wild rabbit in nature can more often be found in gullies, ravines, on steep sea shores or abandoned quarries. These animals are not at all afraid of being close to humans, so they can even settle on the outskirts of settlements and in various landfills.

When these small animals choose a certain territory for their life, they always mark it with an odorous secret produced by the skin glands. Unlike hares, wild rabbits do not lead an isolated lifestyle, but settle in whole groups (7-11 individuals each). Their families have a rather complex hierarchical structure.

What do they eat?

A wild rabbit, when feeding, does not move further from the hole than a hundred meters. Therefore, his diet is not particularly diverse. Only winter and summer meals differ. In the warm period, small animals eat leaves and grass. If there are fields and gardens near their dwelling, then these animals eat salads, cabbage, all kinds of root crops and grain crops on them.

With the approach of cold, rabbits move to dry grass and parts of plants dug out of the ground. In addition, in winter they can still eat shoots and bark of trees or shrubs.

How is reproduction

These small animals are considered to be very prolific. They breed almost all year round. Rabbits can bear offspring about three times per season. Pregnancy in these animals lasts about one month. The number of rabbits in a litter can vary from 4 to 12 and depends on the living conditions and the age of their mother. Thus, in a year she can bring from 20 to 50 cubs. Within a few hours after giving birth, the female is again ready for mating.

Rabbits of this species grow at a rapid pace due to the fact that the very first four weeks after their birth they feed only on mother's milk. Five months later, they already reach puberty and leave the family, forming their own.

What is the value of these animals for humans?

It turns out that only this species The European wild rabbit was tamed by humans. Therefore, it is considered the ancestor of all domestic breeds of these small animals without exception.

Their breeding is currently carried out on the territory of various natural protected areas and nurseries. European rabbits are in demand by many breeders, as they can be used to improve breeds of domesticated species.

In addition, they are an object of fishing due to their beautiful fur and delicious meat. That is why rabbit breeding is considered one of the most important branches of world agriculture.

Since the domestication of wild rabbits, more than seventy different breeds of these animals have already been bred. Among them are downy, decorative, as well as those used to test new drugs and food in scientific laboratories.

But in addition to being useful, these wild animals in some countries, where there are no predatory animals, can cause great harm to people, eating all crops, damaging fields, crops, and also spoiling the land with their numerous holes. For example, in the Pacific Islands, they completely destroyed the vegetation, which led to the destruction of the coastline, which served as nesting seabirds.

Summing up, we can come to the conclusion that these amazing animals are perfectly adapted to living in the wild, so they can support their population.

Wild or European rabbit- a cute sociable animal and a distant ancestor of all breeds of domestic rabbits. It is unusually prolific and easily adapts to life in a variety of natural conditions.

HABITAT

In the past, wild rabbits were distributed throughout Europe, but in ice Age survived only in the Iberian Peninsula and Northwest Africa. With the warming of the climate, the animals again settled in Europe and Western Asia, and later the colonists brought them to Australia, New Zealand and South America. Most often, rabbits settle in open meadows, pastures and fields, preferring sunlit areas with sandy soil, ravines and hills. They feel best in temperate climate, but they easily get used to completely different conditions.

LIFESTYLE

Wild rabbits live large groups. The colony of animals occupies a certain territory, the boundaries of which are marked with urine, as well as the odorous secretion of anal and submandibular glands. The group has a strict hierarchy. Dominant couple takes the most best places in the center, while the subordinate members of the group live on the outskirts of the colony. Wild rabbits usually live in holes, but they are no less willing to settle in old quarries. The colony is a complex labyrinth of habitable burrows and winding underground corridors with a large number inputs. Rabbits lead night image life. In the evening twilight, the animals appear from their holes, look around for a long time and intently, and, only feeling completely safe, go outside to devote the whole night to feeding. The basis of the rabbit diet is cereals and others, including weeds, herbs. In winter starvation, the animals gnaw on thin twigs and tree bark. Rabbits have a great many natural enemies, so they are constantly on their guard. Rabbits are hunted by foxes, wolves, lynxes, forest cats, raptors, and sometimes domestic dogs. Sensing danger, the rabbit grinds its teeth and stamps its hind legs to warn its relatives. Rushing to its heels, the rabbit does not run very fast, but nimble, and the flicker of its white tail serves as an alarm for neighbors and distracts the attention of the pursuer. The rabbit, like the hare, digests plant foods in two stages. Eating their soft faeces mixed with mucus, the animal makes up for the lack of vitamins (especially group B) and enriches the microflora of its digestive tract. Secondarily digested feces no longer contain fiber and are excreted from the body in the form of dry and hard peas. This phenomenon - cecotrophy - allows the rabbit to more efficiently extract nutrients from the food eaten.

BREEDING

The rabbit is famous for its incredible fertility. One female brings up to 6 litters of 2-10 rabbits per year (on average 5-7, maximum - 12). The breeding season begins at the end of winter and lasts until the end of summer. During this period, the dominant female chooses the safest hole in the central part of the colony for the nest. The remaining females of the group are forced to be content with burrows on the outskirts of the rabbit town. The female lines the nest with dry grass and wool plucked from her abdomen, and after a pregnancy that lasts about a month, she brings forth cubs. Immediately after lambing, the female mates again. The rabbits are born blind, deaf, naked and weigh from 25 to 40 g. Having barely recovered from childbirth, the mother goes to feed, but often returns to the nest to feed the babies with milk. By the end of the first week of life, the rabbits are overgrown with wool and learn to walk. At 10 days old, babies begin to see clearly, and after another 6 days they begin to be reinforced with plant foods.

At the age of one month, the rabbits are already completely independent, and the mother stops feeding them with milk. The mortality of juveniles is very high, as they are easy prey even for such small predators like badgers, otters and cats.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Although farmers consider wild rabbits to be noxious pests, they still bring certain benefits. When in the 50s. In the 20th century, their European population was greatly thinned out from viral myxomatosis, fields and gardens were quickly flooded with weeds, including sow thistle.
• In the 1st century A.D. e. The ancient Romans domesticated wild rabbits, highly appreciating their tasty and tender meat. In the Middle Ages, rabbits began to be bred throughout Central Europe, and in the 16th century the first domestic breeds appeared, differing from wild relatives in size, color and coat length. Currently, there are about 50 breeds of rabbits.
• In 1859 European settlers brought 16 rabbits to Australia. Not having natural enemies, the animals began to multiply so quickly that after 30 years their population reached 200 million. Eating pasture vegetation, damaging crops and spoiling land with their burrows, rabbits turned into a real disaster. According to biologists, their expansion caused the extinction of several species of marsupials.

RELATED SPECIES

The Zaitsev family unites over 40 species of hares and rabbits inhabiting all continents except Antarctica. Some species of these animals are very numerous and are found in a variety of places, while others are rare and in a strictly defined area. Rabbits eat plants and tend to live in burrows. These animals are extremely prolific and often cause great damage to cultivated crops.

It is found on the slopes of volcanoes in the vicinity of Mexico City, forming groups of up to five individuals. It has short ears and grayish-brown fur. Doesn't burrow.

- the smallest of all rabbits. Inhabits the eastern states of the USA, leading a solitary lifestyle. Able to climb the branches of shrubs.

- lives in the southeastern states of the United States. It is an excellent swimmer and builds nests from aquatic plants.

Appearance

Medium-sized animal: body length 31-45 cm, body weight 1.3-2.5 kg. The length of the ears is less than the length of the head, 6-7.2 cm. The feet are pubescent, the claws are long and straight. The coloration of the upper body is usually brownish-gray, sometimes with a reddish tint. The tip of the tail is black or grey. On the back, a dark brown striation is visible, formed by the ends of the guard hairs. At the ends of the ears, black rims are distinguishable; buffy patches on the neck behind the ears. A dull light stripe runs along the sides of the body, ending in a wide spot in the thigh area. The belly is white or light gray. The tail is brown-black above, white below. Quite often (3-5%) there are individuals of aberrant color - black, light gray, white, piebald. There is practically no seasonal color change. There are 44 chromosomes in the karyotype.

Rabbits shed 2 times a year. Spring molt begins in March. Females molt quickly, in about 1.5 months; in males, summer fur appears more slowly and traces of molting can be observed until summer. Autumn molt occurs in September-November.

Spreading

The rabbit's range was originally restricted to the Iberian Peninsula and isolated areas in southern France and northwest Africa. However, thanks to human economic activity, the rabbit has settled on all continents, except for Asia and Antarctica. It is believed that rabbits came to the Mediterranean region along with the Romans; Normans in the 12th century brought them to England and Ireland. In the Middle Ages, the rabbit spread throughout almost all of Europe.

Currently, wild rabbits live in most areas of Western and Central Europe, in Scandinavia, in southern Ukraine (including Crimea), in North Africa; acclimatized in South Africa. On the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans (in particular, the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira Island, Hawaiian Islands), rabbits were released specifically so that they would breed and serve as a source of food for the crews of passing ships. Total number islands where rabbits have been introduced reaches 500; so, they live in a wild state on a number of islands of the Caspian Sea (Zhiloy, Nargen, Bullo, etc.), where they were brought in the 19th century. In the middle of the XVIII century. rabbits were brought to Chile , from where they have already independently moved to the territory of Argentina . They got to Australia in the city and a few years later - to New Zealand. In the 1950s rabbits from the San Juan Islands (Washington) were released in the eastern United States.

Lifestyle

European rabbits prefer places with rugged terrain and overgrown with shrubs.

Wild rabbits settle mainly in areas with shrub vegetation and rugged terrain - along beams, ravines, steep coasts of seas and estuaries, abandoned quarries. Less common in forest belts, gardens, parks and very rarely in arable fields, where modern methods tillage destroys its burrows. They do not avoid the neighborhood of a person, settling on the outskirts of settlements, in landfills and wastelands. The mountains do not rise above 600 m above sea level. Important for rabbits is the nature of the soil suitable for digging; they prefer to settle on light sandy or sandy loamy soils and avoid dense clay or rocky areas.

On the daily activity the rabbit is strongly affected by the level of anxiety. Where rabbits are not disturbed, they are active mostly during the day; during persecution and in anthropogenic biotopes, they switch to a nocturnal lifestyle. At night they are active from 11 p.m. to sunrise, in winter - from midnight to dawn.

Territoriality

wild rabbit

Wild rabbits are sedentary, occupying areas of 0.5-20 hectares. The territory is marked with the odorous secretion of the skin glands (inguinal, anal, chin). Unlike hares, rabbits dig deep complex burrows in which they spend a significant part of their lives. Some burrows have been used by rabbits for many generations, turning into real labyrinths, covering an area of ​​up to 1 ha. For digging, rabbits choose elevated areas. Sometimes he makes holes in the cracks of rocks, in old quarries, under the foundations of buildings. Burrows are of two types:

• simple, with 1-3 exits and a nesting chamber at a depth of 30-60 cm; they are probably occupied by young and single individuals;
• complex, with 4-8 exits, up to 45 m long and up to 2-3 m deep.

The entrance to the burrow is wide, up to 22 cm in diameter; at a distance of 85 cm from the entrance, the passage narrows to 15 cm in diameter. Living quarters have a height of 30-60 cm. The entrances to the main tunnels are identified by heaps of earth, small passages at the exit do not have earthen heaps. Rabbits usually do not go far from burrows and feed on adjacent areas, hiding in the burrow at the slightest danger. Rabbits leave inhabited burrows only when they are destroyed or the vegetation around the burrow is severely degraded. Rabbits do not run very fast, not reaching speeds above 20-25 km / h, but very nimble, so it is difficult to catch an adult rabbit.

Rabbits live in family groups of 8-10 adults. Groups have a rather complex hierarchical structure. The dominant male occupies the main burrow; the dominant female and her offspring live with him. Subordinate females live and raise offspring in separate burrows. The dominant male has the advantage during the breeding season. Most rabbits are polygamous, but some males are monogamous and stay on the territory of one particular female. Males jointly defend the colony from strangers. Mutual assistance exists between the members of the colony; they alert each other of danger by tapping the ground with their hind legs.

Food

When feeding, rabbits do not move more than 100 m from their burrows. In this regard, their diet is not selective, and the composition of feed is determined by their availability. Food is different in winter and summer. In summer, they eat the green parts of herbaceous plants; in the fields and vegetable gardens they feed on lettuce, cabbage, various root crops and grain crops. In winter, in addition to dry grass, underground parts of plants are often dug up. A significant role in winter nutrition is played by the shoots and bark of trees and shrubs. In a situation of food shortage, they eat their own feces (coprophagia).

reproduction

Eight newborn rabbits

Rabbits are very prolific. The breeding season covers most of the year. During the year, rabbits can bring offspring in some cases up to 2-4 times. So, in Southern Europe, from March to October, a female rabbit brings 3-5 litters out of 5-6 rabbits. In the northern parts of the range, breeding continues through June-July. Out of season pregnant females are rare. Populations introduced in the Southern Hemisphere, under favorable conditions, breed all year round. In Australia, there is a break in breeding in the middle of summer when the grass burns out.

Pregnancy lasts 28-33 days. The number of rabbits in a litter is 2-12, in wild environment usually 4-7, on industrial farms 8-10. Postpartum estrus is characteristic, when females are ready to mate again within a few hours after giving birth. The average population growth per season is 20-30 rabbits per female cat. In northern populations with less favorable climatic conditions there are no more than 20 rabbits per female; in the Southern Hemisphere - up to 40 rabbits. The number of cubs in the litter also depends on the age of the female: in females younger than 10 months, the average number of rabbits is 4.2; in adults - 5.1; from the age of 3 years, fertility decreases markedly. Up to 60% of pregnancies are not carried to delivery, and the embryos spontaneously resolve.

Before giving birth, the rabbit arranges a nest inside the hole, combing out the underfur for him from the fur on her stomach. Rabbits, unlike hares, are born naked, blind and completely helpless; at birth, they weigh 40-50 g. Their eyes open after 10 days; on the 25th day, they already begin to lead an independent lifestyle, although the female continues to feed them with milk up to 4 weeks of life. Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 5-6 months, so early litters can already breed at the end of summer. However, in wild populations young rabbits rarely breed in their first year of life. In captivity, young female rabbits can give birth as early as 3 months of age. Despite the high reproduction rate, due to the mortality of young animals in the wild, the population profit is only 10-11.5 rabbits per female. In the first 3 weeks of life, about 40% of young animals die; in the first year - up to 90%. Mortality from coccidiosis is especially high in rainy times, when water floods the burrows. Only a few rabbits live past the age of 3 years. The maximum life expectancy is 12-15 years.

Number and importance for humans

The number of populations of wild rabbits is subject to significant changes, in some cases it can reach abnormally high level. With mass reproduction, they harm forestry and agriculture.

They are hunted for fur and meat. The rabbit has been domesticated for over 1000 years. The issues of breeding rabbits for industrial purposes are handled by the livestock industry - rabbit breeding. It is believed that rabbit breeding was first organized in French monasteries in - BC. n. e. At present, rabbit breeding is an important branch of the world economy; About 66 breeds have been bred, mainly for meat and fur. There are downy and decorative breeds, for example, angora rabbitwhose down makes up about 90% of all wool. Domesticated rabbits differ from wild ones in color, fur length and weight - they are able to gain up to 7 kg. Rabbits are widely used as laboratory animals for testing new drugs, food products; used for experiments in genetics. Rabbits can also be kept as pets.

Rabbits as pests

In some areas, rabbits, in the absence of natural predators, bring great harm, eating away vegetation, damaging crops and spoiling lands with their burrows. So, on some islands of the Pacific Ocean, rabbits ate vegetation, which caused soil erosion and the destruction of the coastal zone where seabirds nested.

However, the greatest damage was caused by the spread of rabbits in Australia, where they were brought in (Victoria). 24 brought rabbits bred, and by the year their number in Australia was already estimated at 20 million heads. Rabbits eat grass, making food competition for sheep and large cattle. They cause even more damage to the native fauna and flora of Australia, eating relict vegetation and displacing native species, which cannot compete with rapidly breeding rabbits. Shooting, poisoned baits are used as measures to combat rabbits; in addition, European predators were brought to Australia - fox, ferret, ermine, weasel. Mesh fences are being installed in places in Australia to prevent rabbits from settling in new areas. The most successful way to deal with these pests was the "bacteriological war" of the 1950s, when they tried to infect rabbits with an acute viral disease - myxomatosisendemic to South America. The initial effect was very large, in many areas of Australia up to 90% of all rabbits died out. Survivors have developed immunity. The rabbit problem is still acute in Australia and New Zealand.

Notes

Links

• Russian Branch of the World Association for Scientific Rabbit Breeding

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• Invasive animal species

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• Class: Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 = Mammals
• Subclass: Theria Parker et Haswell, 1879= Viviparous mammals, real beasts
• Infraclass: Eutheria, Placentalia Gill, 1872= Placental, higher beasts
• Family: Lagomorpha Brandt, 1855 = Lagomorphs
• Species: Oryctolagus cuniculus Linnaeus, 1758 = Wild [European wild, Central European wild] rabbit

Rabbit - Oryctolagus cuniculus Linnaeus, 1758.

The main characters and distribution are the same as the genus. The length of the foot is 81-96 mm, the auricle is 60-72 mm, and the tail is 52-70 mm. In the karyotype 2n = 44, NFa = 80. Reliable fossils are not known.

Lifestyle and meaning for a person.

The main habitats in Ukraine are bushes, gardens, orchards, parks, wastelands, cliffs. sea ​​shore, composed of loose shell limestone, the banks of estuaries. Everywhere it occupies plots of land unsuitable for agricultural production. Settles in colonies. For burrows, he chooses elevated areas. Arranges holes in the cracks of rocks, in quarries, floors with the foundations of buildings, in the forest. Burrows dug in the forest are of two types. Burrows of the first type have 1-3 entrances leading to the central chamber located at a depth of 30-60 cm; chamber width 40-60 cm, height 25-40 cm.

They may belong to juveniles and single animals. The second tal is characterized by a more complex structure: 4-8 entrances open at the bottom of deep and wide funnel-shaped depressions. The inlet is wide (width 19 cm, height approx. 22 cm); at a distance of 85 cm from the soil surface, the passage narrows to 14 cm wide and 12 cm high. Such burrows serve a number of generations. During the day, most often it hides in a hole dug in a secluded place. In summer, herbaceous plants predominate in nutrition, and in winter - dry grass, seeds and roots. various plants, young shoots, bark of shrubs and trees. It reproduces 3-5 times a year, the duration of pregnancy is 30 days. There are 4-7 cubs in the litter, which are born naked and blind. Leads a nocturnal lifestyle warm time active from 11 p.m. to sunrise, in winter - from midnight to full dawn. Does not avoid human proximity.

With mass reproduction, it causes great harm to the forest and agriculture. domesticated; a large number of various breeds have been bred, mainly for meat and fur, there are downy and decorative ones. Widely used as a laboratory animal.

Geographic variability and subspecies: 6 subspecies have been described. Within the territory of former USSR acclimatized nominative - O. s. cuniculus L., 1758.

Now wild European rabbits live in Western and Central Europe, Greece, on a number of islands, in North Africa, America, Australia and New Zealand. Even in conditions of relatively stable numbers, disputes have repeatedly arisen between agronomists and hunters about the dangers and benefits of rabbits. Such discussions - whether to exterminate these animals, or to protect them - took place, for example, in France, Chile and Argentina, where rabbits were also brought at one time.

In the 19th century, rabbits were also brought to the south of Ukraine, to the Nikolaev, Kherson regions, in the vicinity of Odessa. But for 100 years, they never spread far beyond the places where they were released. In the middle of the XX century. In Ukraine, another 56 releases into the wild were carried out (a total of 32 thousand animals), but 80% of them were unsuccessful - animals died from predators, their habitats were destroyed. Now the number of rabbits in Ukraine does not exceed several thousand. In the Crimea, a few rabbits were released in hunting farms, where they took root with the support of humans, but in the wild nature of the Crimea they are very rare.

Modern urbanization has drastically reduced the number of rabbits in Western Europe while at the beginning of the 20th century them total strength there reached 100 million heads, the annual production was several million. The future of rabbits near Odessa is also in doubt, since the areas occupied by them are being actively developed for summer cottages and other objects. The number of rabbits in Ukraine, as well as in France, is strongly affected by epidemics of myxomatosis.

In Europe, rabbits prefer to settle in places with rugged terrain, light and dry sandy soil, in which they usually dig deep, up to 2–2.5 m, holes. In the absence of shelters, they often become victims of predators: foxes, mustelids, feral dogs and cats, rats, crows, hawks, harriers, eagle owls, short-eared owls, white-tailed eagles. But the proximity of a person does not bother rabbits. Although these animals do not run as fast as their relatives - hares, they are very nimble. In dense bushes and grass, they are difficult to catch even for a trained dog. In addition, rabbits have good hearing and are very shy - hearing even the slightest rustle, they immediately run away and hide. Such caution helps them to easily survive in wastelands and parks near settlements. In the Crimea and the Nikolaev region, they even settle on the territory of factories, dig holes under buildings and in heaps of garbage and scrap metal. However, once caught, wild rabbits are not accustomed to people and are prone to escaping from captivity.