European rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a mammal of the order Lagomorpha and the family Leporidae. It is a medium-sized, terrestrial and nocturnal herbivore, with a representative adult body mass of 1.8 kg and values up to 2.9 kg reported.
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Quick facts about the European rabbit
Gestation lasts 30.6 days, litters average 5.24 young, and females have 4.4 litters per year, reaching sexual maturity at 185.6 days. The IUCN lists it as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category, and checklists record it in Australia.
- Weight
- 1.83 kg – 2.89 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 10 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 18 years
- Main food
- snailsrc for Main food
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 29 days – 30.6 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5.24src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 6.1 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 4.42src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the European rabbit
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the European rabbit live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The European rabbit is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the European rabbit?
The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern France. It has been introduced to hundreds of locations around the world. Wild and domesticated European rabbits around the world can vary widely in size, shape, and colour. The average adult European rabbit is smaller than the European hare, though size and weight vary with habitat and diet.
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, weasels, cats, and canids. The European rabbit's main defence 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 centred 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 been hunted since the Paleolithic period, and raised as a food source since at least the first century BCE. It has also had major agricultural and biological impacts as an invasive species. It is the only domesticated species of rabbit, and all known breeds of domestic rabbit are its descendants. It has often been introduced to exotic locations as a food source or for sport hunting. It has been introduced to at least 800 islands and every continent except Antarctica, often with devastating effects on local biodiversity due to a lack of predators. However, the species is listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as it has faced population decline in its native range due to overhunting, habitat destruction, and diseases such as myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease. This decline has directly led to negative impacts on populations of the Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle, predators that rely on the rabbit as food.
From the Wikipedia article “European rabbit” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=European_rabbit&oldid=1381714084), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the European rabbit sound like?
Is the European rabbit endangered?
The European rabbit is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species. What the categories mean.
How is the European rabbit classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderLagomorpha
- familyLeporidae
- genusOryctolagus
- SpeciesOryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Oryctogalus fodiens, Oryctolagus cuniculus borkumensis
Other names and names in other languages (128)
- BunnyEnglish
- Common rabbitEnglish
- ConeyEnglish
- ConyEnglish
- English rabbitEnglish
- PoponejoEnglish
- RabbitEnglish
- Wild rabbitEnglish
- KonynAfrikaans
- AdankoAkan
- ConingOld English
- أرنب أوروبيArabic
- ConilloAragonese
- ارنب اوروبىEgyptian Arabic
- CuniyuAsturian
- Coneyu bravuAsturian
- Micta WapocAtikamekw
- Avropa adadovşanıAzerbaijani
- Ҡырағай ҡуянBashkir
- Wüd-KaniggéBavarian
- Заек подземникBulgarian
- KoniklBreton
- Europski kunićBosnian
- Conill de BoscCatalan
- králík divokýCzech
- CwningenWelsh
- Cwningen EwropeaiddWelsh
- CwningodWelsh
- KaninerDanish
- VildkaninDanish
- WildkaninchenGerman
- Źiwy karnikelLower Sorbian
- ΑγριοκούνελοGreek
- ConejoSpanish
- Conejo comúnSpanish
- Conejo de monteSpanish
- Conejo europeoSpanish
- küülikEstonian
- Euroopa küülikEstonian
- Etxe-untxiBasque
- خرگوش اروپاییPersian
- KaniiniFinnish
- kaniFinnish
- VillikaniiniFinnish
- Lapin communFrench
- Lapin de garenneFrench
- CounélArpitan
- KnynWestern Frisian
- Wylde knynWestern Frisian
- CoinínIrish
- rabaidScottish Gaelic
- coineanachScottish Gaelic
- Coineanach EòrpachScottish Gaelic
- coineanaichScottish Gaelic
- rabaideanScottish Gaelic
- CoelloGalician
- Coello europeoGalician
- Europa apere'arusuGuarani
- Patuljasti kunićSerbian (Latin)
- ארנבון מצויHebrew
- यूरोपीय ख़रगोशHindi
- Dźiwi nuklUpper Sorbian
- üregi nyúlHungarian
- Վայրի ճագարArmenian
- KelinciIndonesian
- UkalliqInupiaq
- KanínaIcelandic
- Coniglio europeoItalian
- Coniglio selvatico europeoItalian
- アナウサギJapanese
- カイウサギJapanese
- ბოცვერიGeorgian
- AwtilKabyle
- UrukwavuKinyarwanda
- ІнқоянKazakh
- 굴토끼Korean
- 유럽토끼Korean
- Konin europekCornish
- KanéngchenLuxembourgish
- Wëll KanéngchenLuxembourgish
- ConiggioLigurian
- Europese knienLimburgish
- Laukinis triušisLithuanian
- TrusisLatvian
- eiropa trusisLatvian
- eiropas trusisLatvian
- Bitro mahazatraMalagasy
- RāpetiMāori
- Зајак дупкарMacedonian
- യൂറോപ്യൻ മുയൽMalayalam
- Fenek EwropewMaltese
- Arnab EropahMalay
- ConeilhoMirandese
- kaninNorwegian Bokmål
- konijnDutch
- Wild konijnDutch
- Conilh europèuOccitan
- Krolikkuolo
- królik europejskiPolish
- CoelhoPortuguese
- Coelho-bravoPortuguese
- Coelho-europeuPortuguese
- LapinRomanian
- Iepure de vizuinăRomanian
- Iepure de vizuină europeanRomanian
- Iepure sălbatic europeanRomanian
- Iepurele de vizuinăRomanian
- Дикий кроликRussian
- Европейский кроликRussian
- králik divýSlovak
- Divji kunecSlovenian
- Lepuri i gropësAlbanian
- Дивљи кунићSerbian
- европски кунићSerbian
- ConigliuSardinian
- KanienkenSaterland Frisian
- europeisk kaninSwedish
- Sungura wa KizunguSwahili
- กระต่ายยุโรปThai
- Kunehong EuropeanoFilipino
- Avrupa Ada TavşanıTurkish
- Покчи кечUdmurt
- Кріль звичайнийUkrainian
- Кріль європейськийUkrainian
- یورپی خرگوشUrdu
- Thỏ châu ÂuVietnamese
- Såvaedje robeteWalloon
- 穴兔Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the European rabbit
Other species in the same family Leporidae.
European hare
Lepus europaeus
Mountain hare
Lepus timidus
Arctic hare
Lepus arcticus
Snowshoe hare
Lepus americanus
Cape hare
Lepus capensis
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Lepus californicus
CompareEuropean rabbit vs European hareEuropean rabbit vs Mountain hareEuropean rabbit vs Arctic hareEuropean rabbit vs Snowshoe hare
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the European rabbit?
The European rabbit is a mammal in the order Lagomorpha and the family Leporidae.
How heavy is the European rabbit?
Its representative adult body mass is 1.8 kg, with values up to 2.9 kg reported by sources.
What does the European rabbit eat?
The European rabbit is a herbivore.
Is the European rabbit endangered?
No. The IUCN lists it as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the European rabbit live?
Its lifespan is given as 10 years, with values up to 18 years reported by sources.
How many young does the European rabbit have?
Litters average 5.24 young, with 4.4 litters per year after a gestation of 30.6 days.
Which countries is the European rabbit recorded in?
Checklists record the European rabbit in Australia.
Who named the European rabbit?
Its scientific name, Oryctolagus cuniculus, carries the authority (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/european-rabbit
“European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/european-rabbit.
@misc{european_rabbit_2026,
title = {European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/european-rabbit},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}