Rabbits can live in a variety of environments.
Rabbits are small herbivorous mammals with good eyesight and hearing. They hide from predators using these traits, along with their speed, often taking refuge in underground burrows. Together with the hares, they form the family Leporidae and, with the hares and pikes, the order Lagomorpha (lagomorphs). They are one of the only species of animals that are simultaneously considered pets, pests, and domestic animals by people of the same culture.
Rabbits live in burrows.
Although they primarily live in temperate areas located in the mid-latitudes of the Americas, Europe, and Africa, rabbits can live in a variety of environments. They are also found in India, Sumatra, and Japan. There are 50 species in seven genera, but the domestic rabbit has been selectively bred into so many breeds that there seem to be many more. These animals can be white, brown, gray, or brownish-yellow in color, with the exception of the black Amami and two black-striped species from Asia.
Rabbits have large ears, which are useful for spotting predators.
Rabbits are ground dwellers adapted to forage at any time of the day (usually mid-afternoon or at night) without being caught by predators such as dogs, cats, and foxes. Their body is adapted to avoid predators, including ears up to 10 cm long, large sensitive eyes, and strong hind leg muscles. They mostly eat grass, which is low in nutrients, so they eat their own feces to break it down and extract all the available nutrients. This strategy contrasts with ruminants, which chew the cud to extract nutrients.
Rabbits have strong hind legs.
Unlike hares, with which they are closely related, rabbits are social animals that live in small groups of up to 20 individuals with specific dominance hierarchies, including alpha and beta males. Unlike other mammals, they are relatively silent creatures, only signaling with loud stomps in moments of alarm or aggression. Instead of using sound, they use scent to communicate information such as group identity, gender, age, social and reproductive status, and territory ownership. The Amami species in Japan is another exception here, using a variety of auditory calls. Most are members of territorial groups and fight each other with their front legs during disputes.
The small animals have the ability to reproduce so quickly and consume so much foliage that they are sometimes considered pests. The standard example is the European rabbit in Australia, which has displaced many native species. Being marsupials, native Australian mammals tend to have a slower metabolism than placental mammals and therefore have difficulty competing. Australian rabbit populations have been controlled through aggressive culling operations.