Rabbits live in variety of places. The most common habitats for rabbits are meadows, woods, grasslands, deserts and forests. The European rabbit lives in rabbit holes, otherwise known as burrows. A lot of rabbits that have burrowed many holes are said to live in warrens. Over 50% of the rabbit population of the world is found in North America, although rabbits are also native to Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, and some areas of Africa and South America. The rabbit is a mammal and there are 8 different types of rabbits, or the family called Leporidae. As well as the European rabbit, there is the cottontail rabbit and the Amami rabbit. The male rabbit is known as a buck and a female is a doe. Young rabbits are called kits. The European rabbit is small grayish-brown and can weigh up to 2.2 kg in weight. Its average length is between 34 and 45 cm. Rabbits have long ears, fluffy tails and large, powerful hind legs, which are used for hopping. They also have webbed toes that stop them from moving apart from each other when the rabbit jumps. European rabbits are native to southern Europe but are now widespread throughout the world. Cottontail rabbits are mostly found in the American continents. They closely resemble the European rabbit, although they have a stub tail, hence the name cottontail. Whilst myxomatosis is common in European rabbits, it is rare for cottontail rabbits to suffer from the disease. The Amami rabbit, sometimes called the Ryukyu rabbit is only found on two small islands in Japan, Amami Oshima and Toku-no-Shima. This rabbit has short legs and smaller ears than other rabbits. The Amami rabbit is an endangered species, due to hunting, and the rabbit has had Japanese legal protection since 1921. They sleep in caves during the day and are one of the only species of rabbit to make calling noises.
