List of rabbit breeds
As of 2017, there were at least 305 breeds of the domestic rabbit in 70 countries around the world raised for in the agricultural practice of breeding and raising domestic rabbits as livestock for their value in meat, fur, wool, education, scientific research, entertainment and companionship in cuniculture. A rabbit breed is a distinct strain created through selective breeding for specific characteristics, including size, fur, body type, color, feed conversion ratio, et cetera. Organizations such as the American Rabbit Breeders Association and the British Rabbit Council have standards for the desired qualities of their respective recognized breeds. Each rabbit breed is considered to benefit when a reputable breeder strives to emulate the perfect example for the breed, defined by the individual breed standard by which it may be judged. The global diversity of breeds reflects the breadth of the rabbit's unique qualities. Listed below are 191 of the world's modern-day rabbit breeds.
Modern-day rabbit breeds
* indicates "Rabbits in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links.| Breed name | Image | Size | Fur type | Ear type | Colors & markings | ARBA recognized? | BRC recognized? | Origin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alaskan | Short | Erect | Black |  us*ef|EU|pref=Rabbits in|size=35|the=yScopeThe table of modern-day rabbit breeds includes those that are:
It is sometimes difficult to ascertain which came first, the breed name or the color/pattern name. What is certain is that, in such situations, the two at some point were synonymous but subsequent developments in other breeds have caused the terms to diverge. The definition of a distinct breed relies on clusters of complex individual gene-sets—clusters that may include the gene-set for a body type, the gene-set for an ear type, the gene-set for a color/pattern, and/or the gene-set for a fur type. The determination of when a group of rabbits is considered to have become a new breed is left, in the following table, to the authority of ARBA, the BRC, or other reputable source. Extinct rabbit breedsMany rabbit breeds that are now extinct contributed to the development of a modern-day breed or breeds. An example of this was the Blue Imperial which contributed to the American and Lilac. Many rabbit breeds went extinct following the collapse of the American fur industry, though some breeds mainly raised for fur were preserved. In some cases, little is known of these nearly forgotten breeds. For some, the only records are descriptions in old breed books. At least sixty rabbit breeds have gone extinct.
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