24 Rabbit Facts For Kids

1. Rabbit is the common name for a group of small wild and domesticated mammals in the Leporidae family.
2. The rabbit is also known as a bunny rabbit or simply bunny.
3. You can easily identify a rabbit by their short stout bodies, long ears, large eyes, fluffy coat, and fluffy tail.
4. Rabbits and their ancestors first started to appear around 40 million years ago.
5. The common name rabbit is used for some species in the Leporidae that are not true rabbits and are instead hares.
6. Estimates claim there are between 700 and 1 billion domesticated and wild rabbits living worldwide.
7. Estimates claim more than half of all the living rabbits on our planet are found in North America.
8. Rabbits species can be found worldwide on every continent, except for Antarctica.
9. The preferred habitat for a rabbit is the desert, forest, grasslands, meadows, woods, and wetlands.
10. Rabbits are herbivorous, which means their diet only contains plant material.
11. The diet of a rabbit includes grass, green plants, flowering plants, and vegetables.
12. Rabbits come in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sizes which vary by rabbit species.
13. There are 13 rabbit species that are wild and 305 domesticated rabbit breeds.
14. A few examples of wild rabbit species are the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi), the riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis), and the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).
15. The largest wild rabbit species is the Central African rabbit (Poelagus marjorita) with a bodyweight as high as 6.6 pounds.
16. The smallest wild rabbit species is the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) with a bodyweight as low as 1.1 pounds.
17. The domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus) was domesticated by humans around the 5th century in France.
18. There are now around 305 different breeds of the domestic rabbit.
19. An example of a domesticated rabbit breed is the Lionhead rabbit, which is popular pet due to its wool mane that encircles it head, like a male lion.
20. The largest rabbit breed is the Flemish Giant rabbit with a bodyweight as high as 8.4 pounds.
21. The smallest rabbit breed is the Netherland Dwarf rabbit with a bodyweight as low as 1.1 pounds.
22. The average lifespan for a rabbit is between 3 and 8 years, but pets in captivity can live 10 or more years.
23. The average jump height for a rabbit is around 4 feet but varies by species and/or breed.
24. The average leap distance for a rabbit is between 8 and 9 feet but varies by species and/or breed.

Rabbit Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on rabbits. Below are six pictures of various rabbit species. These pictures should help you better understand the different types of rabbits found around the world.

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