Rabbit
"Bunny" redirects here. For other uses, see Bunny (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Rabbet.
For other uses, see Rabbit (disambiguation).
Rabbit
Temporal range:
Rabbit in montana.jpg
Young
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
in part
Genera
Pentalagus
Bunolagus
Nesolagus
Romerolagus

Brachylagus
Sylvilagus
Oryctolagus
Poelagus

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are eight different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), cottontail rabbits (genus Sylvilagus; 13 species), and the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi, an endangered species on Amami Ōshima, Japan). There are many other species of rabbit, and these, along with pikas and hares, make up the order Lagomorpha. The male is called a buck and the female is a doe; a young rabbit is a kitten or kit
Rabbit habitats include meadows, woods, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands.[1] Rabbits live in groups, and the best known species, the European rabbit, lives in underground burrows, or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a warren.[1]

More than half the world's rabbit population resides in North America.[1] They are also native to southwestern Europe, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands of Japan, and in parts of Africa and South America. They are not naturally found in most of Eurasia, where a number of species of hares are present. Rabbits first entered South America relatively recently, as part of the Great American Interchange. Much of the continent has just one species of rabbit, the tapeti, while most of South America's southern cone is without rabbits.

The European rabbit has been introduced to many places around the world.[2]

Terminology
Male rabbits are called bucks; females are called does. An older term for an adult rabbit is coney, while rabbit once referred only to the young animals.[3] Another term for a young rabbit is bunny, though this term is often applied informally (especially by children) to rabbits generally, especially domestic ones. More recently, the term kit or kitten has been used to refer to a young rabbit. A young hare is called a leveret; this term is sometimes informally applied to a young rabbit as well.

A group of rabbits is known as a colony, fluffle, or nest (and occasionally a warren, though this more commonly refers to where the rabbits live).[4][5] A group of young rabbits is referred to as a litter, and a group of domestic rabbits is sometimes called a herd.[6]

Biology

A skin-skeletal preparation showing its incisors
Evolution
Because the rabbit's epiglottis is engaged over the soft palate except when swallowing, the rabbit is an obligate nasal breather. Rabbits have two sets of incisor teeth, one behind the other. This way they can be distinguished from rodents, with which they are often confused.[7] Carl Linnaeus originally grouped rabbits and rodents under the class Glires; later, they were separated as the scientific consensus is that many of their similarities were a result of convergent evolution. However, recent DNA analysis and the discovery of a common ancestor has supported the view that they share a common lineage, and thus rabbits and rodents are now often referred to together as members of the superorder Glires.
Selection of breeds of dog.
Conservation status
Domesticated
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia[1]
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: C. lupus
Subspecies: C. l. familiaris
Trinomial name
Canis lupus familiaris[2]
The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris)[3] is a domesticated canid which has been selectively bred for millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.[4]

Although initially thought to have originated as a manmade variant of an extant canid species (variously supposed as being the dhole,[5] golden jackal,[6] or gray wolf[7]), extensive genetic studies undertaken during the 2010s indicate that dogs diverged from an extinct wolf-like canid in Eurasia 40,000 years ago.[8] Being the oldest domesticated animal, their long association with people has allowed dogs to be uniquely attuned to human behavior,[9] as well as thrive on a starch-rich diet which would be inadequate for other canid species.[10]

Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname "man's best friend" in the Western world. In China and South Vietnam dogs are a source of meat for humans.