A rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula and nearby regions. It digs complex burrows and lives in groups where conditions allow.
Wild rabbits have greyish or brownish fur and a white underside to the tail. Domestic breeds vary greatly in colour and body form.
Introduced European rabbits on Tenerife eat fleshy fruits as well as vegetation. Some seeds pass through the gut and leave in droppings. In dry lowland scrub, seeds of an introduced prickly pear were particularly frequent, while droppings in montane forests also contained seeds of trees native to the island.
A study published in 2023 sampled five vegetation zones between August 2020 and November 2021. Its 244 faecal samples contained 29,538 droppings. Researchers separated seeds and sowed 921 intact seeds representing 23 plant species in a greenhouse. Over six months, 49 seeds from 13 species emerged. These included island-endemic plants and an introduced prickly pear. Rabbit feeding can therefore leave some seeds capable of producing seedlings after passage through the animal.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In its native range in Spain, habitat work supports wild European rabbits. In June 2025, the Andalusian government reported 120 artificial tube warrens with breeding chambers, six rainwater-fed drinking troughs, and pruning across 78 hectares to create breeding and refuge areas in Sierra de Cardeña y Montoro Natural Park. The works aim to support rabbit reproduction and survival, and also concern the Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagle, which rely heavily on rabbits as prey.