Where Do Rabbits Live? Warrens, Nests and Hiding Places

Rabbits live where food and cover meet

Almost every rabbit needs two things close together: open ground with short, fresh plants to eat, and somewhere safe to hide. Because nearly every predator hunts rabbits, they rarely feed far from cover. European rabbits usually graze within about 25–50 m (80–160 ft) of their burrows, and cottontails stay close to brush piles, hedges and thickets.

This is why rabbits are so common at edges: where a field meets a hedge, a lawn meets a shrub border, or a meadow meets a wood. Dense forest offers cover but little grass, and wide-open plains offer grass but nowhere to hide, so most rabbits avoid both.

Underground: European rabbit warrens

The European rabbit is the great digger of the rabbit world. It lives in colonies in a warren, a network of tunnels and chambers with many entrances. Big warrens can grow over many generations, and some exits are dug from the inside with no heap of soil, giving the rabbits hidden escape routes.

Warrens are easiest to dig in soft, well-drained soil, so European rabbits are especially common on sandy heaths, dunes, chalk grassland, banks and hillsides. Where the ground is too hard, they may shelter in thick scrub, under rocks or in hedge bottoms instead.

The European rabbit is native to Spain, Portugal and southern France, but people have carried it across Europe and around the world. Today it lives wild in Britain and Ireland, much of western and central Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and many islands. In parts of these places, especially Australia, it is a serious invasive pest.

Above ground: cottontail forms and nests

The eastern cottontail, the most common rabbit in North America, lives very differently. It does not usually dig, and it lives alone rather than in colonies. During the day it rests in a form, a shallow scrape in the grass or under a bush that is shaped to its body. If danger comes near, it freezes and trusts its camouflage, then sprints to cover in a zigzag if it is discovered.

In deep snow or when chased, a cottontail may shelter in an abandoned woodchuck burrow, a rock pile, a stone wall or a brush pile. Females dig only one thing: a shallow, grass-and-fur-lined nest for their young, often in the middle of a lawn, hayfield or garden bed. For more on what happens in those nests, see How many babies do rabbits have?

Eastern cottontails live from southern Canada through most of the eastern and central United States, Mexico and Central America to northwestern South America. They thrive in old fields, farmland, parks, golf courses and suburban neighborhoods, where gardens and lawns provide food and shrubs provide cover.

Rabbits in deserts, swamps and mountains

Rabbits are more adaptable than many people think. Different species live in very different places:

• Deserts: the desert cottontail lives in dry grassland, scrub and desert in the western United States and Mexico. It rests in the shade during the hottest hours and feeds in the cooler morning and evening.
• Wetlands: the marsh rabbit of the southeastern United States lives in marshes and swamps and swims readily. The swamp rabbit, the largest cottontail, lives in bottomland forests and swamps of the south-central US.
• Sagebrush: the pygmy rabbit, the smallest rabbit in North America, lives among tall sagebrush in the Great Basin and is one of the few American rabbits that digs its own burrows.
• Mountains: the volcano rabbit lives in grassy pine forest on the high volcanoes around Mexico City and is classed as Endangered.
• Forests: the Amami rabbit, an Endangered species found only on two small islands in southern Japan, lives in dense forest, and the rare Sumatran striped rabbit lives in mountain rainforest in Indonesia.
• Riverbanks: the riverine rabbit of South Africa’s Karoo lives in dense bushes along seasonal rivers and is Critically Endangered.

Where in the world do rabbits live?

Wild rabbits are native to North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. There are no native rabbits in Australia or Antarctica, although European rabbits have been introduced to Australia and New Zealand. South America has its own cottontails, such as the tapeti of tropical forests and grasslands.

Many animals called “rabbits” are actually hares, such as the jackrabbits and snowshoe hare of North America. Hares do not use burrows or lined nests at all; they rest in a shallow form and give birth to furred, open-eyed young on open ground. Learn more in rabbit vs hare.

How big is a rabbit’s home range?

Rabbits do not roam far. An eastern cottontail’s home range is often around 0.5–1.5 hectares (1.2–3.7 acres), though it can be larger where food is scarce or during the breeding season, and cottontails usually stay in the same area for life. European rabbit groups defend small territories around their warren, typically just a few hectares, and mark them with latrines of droppings and scent rubbed from a gland under the chin.

Because they stay so close to home, rabbits know every escape route in their patch. That local knowledge is one of their best defenses against foxes, hawks and other predators.

Where to see wild rabbits

The best time to see wild rabbits is early morning or evening, when they come out to feed. In Europe, look along grassy banks, field edges, golf courses, coastal dunes and short-grazed downland, often near the holes of a warren. In North America, cottontails are easy to spot on suburban lawns, park edges and farm lanes at dusk.

Watch from a distance and never disturb nests or burrows. Young rabbits sitting alone are usually fine; their mother visits only briefly, and they become independent at only a few weeks old.