They have larger, rounder heads than traditional rabbits.A dwarf rabbit can weigh as little as 1.5 lbs. These bunnies will be larger than dwarves, but smaller than a conventional rabbit.ĭwarf rabbits are typically identifiable by the following characteristics: False Dwarves are born with two sets of ‘normal’ genes, despite having a dwarf parent.These bunnies have several key characteristics. True Dwarves are born with one set of dwarf genes, and one set of ‘normal’ genes.If one of a rabbit’s parents carries this gene, a dwarf rabbit could be born. Difference Between a Small Rabbit and a Dwarf RabbitĪ dominant gene causes dwarfism in rabbits. This is unlikely in the event of small breeds. If you adopt a large or giant breed, it could take a year.Īlways assume that your rabbit could grow bigger until they’re 18 months old. Most small breeds of rabbit will be fully grown by the age of six months. Their breed will also play a part in this. Some rabbits shoot up in size early, which others are late bloomers. Just like humans, rabbits grow at their own pace. How Quickly Do Rabbits Grow to Full Size? Don’t adopt a medium rabbit when you expected something smaller. All bunnies look tiny when they’re young. If you’re looking for a rabbit that stays small, remember something important. Dwarf rabbits are not recognized as a separate weight class. The American Rabbit Breeders Association, using a breed’s ideal adult weight, defines these weight classes. Large rabbits weight between 9 and 11 lbs.Medium rabbits weight between 6 and 9 lbs.Rabbits are divided into four weight classes: Rabbit size is usually defined by the bunny’s weight. Rabbits come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. But if these minute mammals are going to bounce back, it’s just the first step.Related Articles: What Is The Average Size And Weight of a Rabbit? “That seems like a pretty big footprint,” Gallie says-particularly for an animal with paws the size of pennies. The ideal sagebrush spread is about 250 square miles, to allow future generations to fan out. Washington State officials are working with local ranchers to identify new habitat in which to release rabbits born in captivity. The hope is that rough-and-ready rabbits will fare better. So Gallie recently eliminated such luxuries. Their multi-acre breeding pens used to be tricked out with feeding stations and artificial burrows, but many juvenile rabbits released into the wild soon died. One way to cope with an ever-crueler world is to produce tougher bunnies. A single fire in 2020 killed more than 40 percent of remaining Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits and turned a huge swath of their already shrinking habitat into a moonscape. If you have two bad years, you are almost done.”Īnd then there are the wildfires, fueled by the invasive cheatgrass that takes hold in sagebrush’s absence. “I don’t think people realize how close we are to extinction,” says Jon Gallie, the Washington State biologist charged with bringing back the federally endangered population. Today only a few hundred of the rabbits remain, living in semi-captivity and in the wild. Scientists crossbred survivors with pygmy rabbits from Idaho reared in protected paddocks, the offspring retained at least three-quarters of their unique Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit DNA. By the early 2000s, the genetically distinct Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit population had dwindled to just a few animals. It even forfeited its archetypal cotton tail, and thus blends in with the gray-green bushes.īut in the last century or so, about 80 percent of the wild “sagebrush sea” of the Columbia Basin was converted into farms and ranchland. The enzymes in its gut evolved to neutralize the plant’s toxins and maximize digestion, and it tunnels elaborately beneath the sagebrush’s roots. These little bunnies abound in the scrublands of the American West, but one population, known as the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, long ago colonized what is now central Washington, happily munching away at a smallish patch of fragrant sagebrush steppe for thousands of years.Įvery last inch of a pygmy rabbit is built for sagebrush. The world’s tiniest rabbit is roughly the size of a softball-a very, very soft softball.
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