Short answers, pulled from the story.
The order Lagomorpha was created in 1912 to separate rabbits and hares from the rodent family tree. This classification was established after scientists discovered that rabbits possess two extra incisors tucked directly behind their front teeth. This anatomical quirk creates a four-toothed front row that remains invisible until the animal opens its mouth wide.
The scientific name for the European rabbit is Oryctolagus cuniculus. This species survives predation by constructing extensive networks of tunnels known as warrens that serve as both shelter and a complex social hub. These burrows allow rabbits to escape predators like red foxes, badgers, and the Iberian lynx while their eyes provide a panoramic field of vision that encompasses nearly 360 degrees.
Gestation periods for rabbits range from 27 to 30 days. More than half of all rabbit pregnancies are aborted or resorbed into the mother's body due to infection, trauma, or environmental stress. This high mortality rate forces the species to rely on sheer numbers to ensure survival.
Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits on his property in Victoria in 1859. The population exploded with terrifying speed because the animals found a paradise with no natural predators and abundant food. This led to the construction of massive rabbit-proof fences such as the one built in Cobar, New South Wales, in 1905.
France alone produced 70 million rabbit skins annually in the 1980s. This number dwarfs the 25 million mink pelts produced at the same time. No hare has ever been successfully domesticated, leaving the rabbit as the sole member of the Leporidae family to be bred as livestock.
Ometochtli, or Two Rabbit, is the leader of the Centzon Totochtin, a pantheon of four hundred gods associated with the moon in Aztec mythology. This figure embodies fertility, parties, and drunkenness. In contrast, Jewish folklore has historically associated rabbits with cowardice, a belief that persists in contemporary Israeli Hebrew where the word for rabbit is used to describe a coward.