European rabbit

The European rabbit or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern France. It is the only living species in Oryctolagus, a genus of lagomorphs. The average adult European rabbit is smaller than the European hare, though size and weight vary with habitat and diet. Due to the European rabbit's history of domestication, selective breeding, and introduction to non-native habitats, wild and domesticated European rabbits across the world can vary widely in size, shape, and color.
European rabbits prefer grassland habitats and are herbivorous, mainly feeding on grasses and leaves, though they may supplement their diet with berries, tree bark, and field crops such as maize. They are prey to a variety of predators, including birds of prey, mustelids, cats, and canids. The European rabbit's main defense against predators is to run and hide, using vegetation and its own burrows for cover. It is well known for digging networks of burrows, called warrens, where it spends most of its time when not feeding. The European rabbit lives in social groups centered around territorial females. European rabbits in an established social group will rarely stray far from their warren, with female rabbits leaving the warren mainly to establish nests where they will raise their young. Unlike hares, rabbits are born blind and helpless, requiring maternal care until they leave the nest.
The European rabbit has had major agricultural and biological impacts as an invasive species, and has been hunted and raised as a food source since medieval times. It is the only domesticated species of rabbit, and all known breeds of rabbit are its descendants. It has often been introduced to exotic locations as a food source or for sport hunting. Starting from the first century BCE, it has been introduced to at least 800 islands and every continent with the exception of Antarctica, often with devastating effects on local biodiversity due to a lack of predators. However, the species is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as it has faced population declines in its native range due to overhunting, habitat destruction, and diseases such as myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease. This decline has directly led to negative impacts on populations of the Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle, predators that rely intensely on the rabbit as food.

Naming and etymology

Because of its non-British origin, the species does not have native names in English or Celtic, with the usual terms coney and rabbit being foreign loanwords. Rabbit is also pronounced as "rabbidge", "rabbert" and "rappit". More archaic spellings include rabbette, rabet, rabbet, rabatte, rabytt and rabit. The root word is the Walloon rabett, which was once commonly used in Liège. Rabett itself is derived from the Middle Dutch robbe, with the addition of the suffix -ett.
The term cony or coney predates rabbit, and first occurred during the 13th century to refer to the animal's pelt. Later, cony referred to the adult animal, while rabbit referred to the young. The root of cony is the old French connil or counil, of which the Norman was conin, plural coniz or conis. Connil comes from the Latin cuniculus. Its forerunner is the Greek κόνικλος. The origin of κόνικλος itself is unclear: Ælian, who lived during the third century, linked the word to Celtiberian and later authors relate it to its Basque name unchi; Varo and Pliny connected it to cuneus, which refers to a 'wedge', thus making reference to the animal's digging ability. Later study of the etymology of cuniculus has attested to its origin as a diminutive or adjectival form of the root word for 'dog' in Celtiberian.
The species' dwelling place is termed a warren or cony-garth. 'Warren' comes from the Old English wareine, itself derived from the Old French warenne, varenne, or garenne. The root word is the Low Latin warenna, which originally signified a preserve in general, only to be later used to refer specifically to an enclosure set apart for rabbits and hares. "Cony-garth" derives from the Middle English conygerthe, which may be a compound of connynge + erthe. The term stems from the Old French conniniere or coninyere, and later conilliere. The root word is the Low Latin cunicularia, the feminine form of the adjective cunicularius, which pertains to the rabbit. The generic name, Oryctolagus, derives from and λαγώς, according to Swedish zoologist Wilhelm Lilljeborg, who erected the genus in 1874.

Evolution

Taxonomy

Originally assigned to the genus Lepus by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, the European rabbit was consigned to its own genus, Oryctolagus, in 1874 by Swedish zoologist Wilhelm Lilljeborg on account of its burrowing habits, the blind and helpless young it produces, and its narrow nasal opening, all of which were characteristics not seen in hares. It is superficially similar to the North American cottontails in that they are altricial, being born blind and naked, have white flesh, and little sexual dimorphism. However, they differ in skull characteristics, and cottontails do not construct their own burrows as the European rabbit does. Molecular studies confirm that the resemblance between the two is due to convergent evolution, and that the European rabbit's closest relatives are the hispid hare, the riverine rabbit, and the Amami rabbit.
The following cladogram is based on work done by Matthee and colleagues in 2004 and clarifications from Abrantes and colleagues in 2011, and is based on nuclear and mitochondrial gene analysis:

Subspecies

In 2005, six subspecies were recognized in Mammal Species of the World:
Genetic studies undertaken in 2008, however, indicate only two extant subspecies, O. c. algirus and O. c. cuniculus, native to the Iberian Peninsula, where most of the European rabbit's evolutionary history is centered; as of 2022, only these two subspecies are recognized. O. c. algirus and O. c. cuniculus occupy the south-west and north-east regions of the peninsula, respectively. They naturally come in contact in a region that spans the north-west to south-east, and likely diverged during the Quaternary glaciation 2 million years ago. Subspecies other than O. c. algirus and O. c. cuniculus have been recommended for abandonment, as they have very little evolutionary history and genetic diversity, and are likely not indigenous to the regions they occupy. Populations considered native to North Africa, such as those considered part of the subspecies O. c. habetensis, were likely introduced by Phoenicians navigating the Mediterranean Sea; they are considered to be O. c. cuniculus, as are most other populations in regions the European rabbit was introduced to.

Subspecies	Trinomial authority	Skull	Image	Description	Range	Synonyms
Common rabbit O. c. cuniculus	Linnaeus, 1758			Longer ears and hind feet, greater body mass overall, less pronounced reverse sexual dimorphism compared to O. c. algirus. Domesticated.	Native to northeastern Iberia and southern France. Introduced to the British Isles, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Africa, and several Atlantic and Pacific islands.	brachyotus cnossius fodiens habetensis kreyenbergi vermicula vernicularis
Iberian rabbit O. c. algirus	Loche, 1858			Smaller and with more pronounced reverse sexual dimorphism compared to O. c. cuniculus.	Native to Portugal and southern Spain. Introduced to the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands.	huxleyi

Fossil record

The oldest known fossils of the currently living European rabbit species, Oryctolagus cuniculus, appeared in the Middle Pleistocene age in southern Spain. The first fossils assignable to the genus Oryctolagus appeared during the Miocene epoch, and species such as O. laynensis, a presumed ancestor of O. cuniculus, and O. lacosti were recorded from 3.5 Mya up until the appearance of O. cuniculus 0.6 Mya. However, the European rabbit was the only member of its genus to survive to the Late Pleistocene, whereupon it spread from the Iberian Peninsula to the Mediterranean and northern Europe. Palaeoichnological evidence exists of European rabbits burrowing in and disturbing what are likely Neanderthal burial sites.

Description

An adult European rabbit can measure in length, and weigh. The hind foot measures in length, while the ears are long from the occiput. The European rabbit is smaller than the European hare and mountain hare, and has proportionately shorter legs. It does not have the black ear tips of these hares.
Size and weight vary according to food and habitat quality, with rabbits living on light soil with nothing but grass to feed on being noticeably smaller than specimens living on highly cultivated farmlands with plenty of roots and clover. Pure European rabbits weighing and upwards are uncommon, but are occasionally reported. One large specimen, caught in February 1890 in Lichfield, was weighed at. Unlike the brown hare, the male European rabbit is more heavily built than the female. The penis is short, and lacks a baculum and true glans; the testicles, which are located in scrotal sacs to each side of the penis, can be retracted into the abdomen when food is scarce or when sexually inactive. Rudimentary nipples are also present in male rabbits.
The fur of the European rabbit is made up of soft down hair covered by stiff guard hairs, and is generally greyish-brown, though this is subject to much variation. The guard hairs are banded brown and black, or grey, while the nape of the neck and scrotum are reddish. The chest patch is brown, while the rest of the underparts are white or grey. A white star shape is often present on kits' foreheads, but rarely occurs in adults. The whiskers are long and black, and the feet are fully furred and buff-coloured. The tail has a white underside, which becomes prominent when escaping danger. This may act as a signal for other rabbits to run.
Moulting occurs once a year, beginning in March on the face and spreading over the back. The underfur is completely replaced by October–November. The European rabbit exhibits great variation in colour, from light sandy, to dark grey and completely black. Such variation depends largely on the amount of guard hairs relative to regular pelage. Melanists are not uncommon in mainland Europe, though albinoes are rare.
The skeleton and musculature of the European rabbit, like other leporids, is suited to survival by rapid escape from predators. The hind limbs are an exaggerated feature, being much longer and capable of producing more force than the forelimbs; their growth and use is correlated to that of the rest of the rabbit's body, as action pressure from the muscles creates force that is then distributed through the skeletal structures. Underuse of the rabbit's muscles leads to osteoporosis via bone rarefaction. The skull of the European rabbit displays a significant facial tilt of roughly 45° forward relative to the basicranium at rest, which supports their locomotion being mainly jumping or hopping rather than running.