As of 2017, there were at least 305 breeds of the

domestic rabbit The domestic rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus'') is the domestication, domesticated form of the European rabbit, a member of the lagomorph order. A male rabbit is known as a ''buck,'' a female as a ''doe,'' and a young rabbit as a ''k ...

in 70 countries around the world raised for in the

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

practice of

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

and raising

s as

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

for their value in

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

fur A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and medieval world. The ...

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

and

companionship In social psychology, an interpersonal relation (or interpersonal relationship) describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more people. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are ...

in cuniculture. A rabbit

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

is a distinct strain created through

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

(or occasionally

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

) for specific characteristics, including size, fur, body type, color, feed conversion ratio, et cetera. Organizations such as the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) and the

British Rabbit Council The British Rabbit Council (BRC) is an organisation for rabbit enthusiasts in the United Kingdom. Rabbits are the UK's third most popular pet. History The British Rabbit Council was formed in 1934 when the British Rabbit Society and the National ...

(BRC) have standards for the desired qualities of their respective recognized breeds. Each rabbit breed is considered to benefit when a reputable

breeder A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed, to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist ...

strives to emulate the perfect example for the breed, defined by the individual

breed standard In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include phenotype, physical or morphology (biology), morphological detail, genotype, g ...

by which it may be judged. The global diversity of breeds reflects the breadth of the rabbit's unique qualities. Listed below are 191 of the world's modern-day rabbit breeds.

Modern-day rabbit breeds

* indicates "Rabbits in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links. Kleinsilber schwarz

Scope

The table of modern-day rabbit breeds includes those that are: * recognized as a distinct breed by ARBA, the BRC, or another country's established organization for the national promotion of rabbit breeds, * recognized as "in development" for potential formal recognition (as judged by multiple authoritative sources), or * recognized as a distinct breed that resulted from natural selection (as judged by pertinent authoritative sources).

Terminology

Confusion sometimes arises regarding the name of a rabbit breed versus the name of a rabbit's color/pattern (or fur type). For example, ''

Harlequin Harlequin (, , ; , ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters (Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan ...

'' is the name of a breed whose color/pattern is known as ''harlequin.'' (This arose from the traditional

character, who, like this rabbit, always wears a motley-colored check-patterned coat and is also native to France.) The harlequin color/pattern is found now in a different breed of rabbit: the Tri-Colour Dutch, also known as the ''Harlequin Dutch''. Such evolutions in terminology pertain also to some fur types, where (for example) the '' Rex'' breed has ''rex'' fur. There are now other rabbit breeds that also have rex fur. For example, the unusually ''"rexed"'' Astrex rabbit breed. It is sometimes difficult to ascertain which came first, the breed name or the color/pattern name (or fur-type name). What is certain is that, in such situations, the two at some point were synonymous but subsequent developments in other breeds (likely hinging on similar genetic changes) have caused the terms to diverge. The definition of a distinct

relies on clusters of complex individual gene-sets—clusters that may include the gene-set for a body type, the gene-set for an ear type, the gene-set for a color/pattern, and/or the gene-set for a fur type. The determination of when a group of rabbits is considered to have become a new breed (as a result of overarching genetic distinction) is left, in the following table, to the authority of ARBA, the BRC, or other reputable source.

Extinct rabbit breeds

Many rabbit breeds that are now extinct contributed to the development of a modern-day breed or breeds. An example of this was the Blue Imperial which contributed to the American and Lilac. Many rabbit breeds went extinct following the collapse of the American fur industry, though some breeds mainly raised for fur were preserved. In some cases, little is known of these nearly forgotten breeds. For some, the only records are descriptions in old breed books. At least sixty rabbit breeds have gone extinct.

Explanatory footnotes

Citation footnotes

References

External links

American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA)
''(Includes links to national rabbit breed clubs in the US)''
British Rabbit Council (BRC)
''(Includes links to national rabbit breed clubs in the UK)''
Online Rabbit Care—Rabbit Breeds
''(Lists over 150 rabbit varieties)''
RabbitPedia.com—Rabbit Breeds
''(Information about 60+ Pet Rabbit Breeds from A to Z)''
Petadvices.com—Domestic Rabbit Breeds
''(Information about Domestic Rabbit Animal Breeds)''
Complete Guide of Rabbit Breeds
- List of rabbit breeds approved by American Rabbit Breeders Association
RabbitBreeders.us—Rabbit Breeds
''(Includes body-type and fur-type classifications for over 45 ARBA-recognized rabbit breeds)''

''(Lists over 170—and provides information on over 50—"global domestic" rabbit breeds)'' {{Breed Rabbits Rabbits as pets