Wild rabbits from Europe and Africa have given us the pet rabbit we know today. People began domesticating rabbits in the Middle Ages. They are known to be in the United States as early as the beginning of the 1700s. The Angora is one breed that is known to have been here during that early time. By the 1800s, the Polish and early Dutch breeds were in the United States as well. In the twentieth century, the 1950s brought an expansion in the number of breeds in the United States and growth has continued since that time.

Rabbits are crepuscular, meaning that they are most active at dawn and dusk; they sleep more during the day and at night. As a result, it will be most natural for your rabbit to eat at these times. Your rabbit also want to play and exercise more at dawn and dusk.

Rabbits have a very light, fragile skeleton. Because of that, we have to take special precautions to make sure they do not become injured, especially when they are handled.

Lagomorphs
Rabbits, along with pikas and hares, are lagomorphs. Lagomorphs are mammals that are similar to rodents, but rabbits have a second set of upper incisors that rodents do not have. This second set of incisors helps wear down the bottom incisors as they grow. Of course, to look at the rabbit and a rat, you would certainly see many more differences. However, the teeth are the major feature that put lagomorphs in their own group. The scientific name of the rabbit is Oryctolagus cuniculus.

Rabbits have some other interesting features; for instance, each eye has a field of vision of about 190 degrees, which means that rabbits can see very well in front of them, above them, and behind them. This is an especially good feature for an animal that may be preyed on by other animals, as they easily watch for any animal that may be hunting them. Rabbits' eyes are much more light-sensitive than human eyes. Their sensitivity to light is about eight times greater than ours. Although we think of animals as colorblind, there is some evidence that rabbits may be able to see blue and green.