Rabbit
Though players start with two sheep, the rabbit is usually the first animal a new player actually purchases. It is the most inexpensive animal in the game, costing only 100 ZD.
The rabbit also takes up the least amount of space of any animal in MFZ. Six of the animals fit in a small enclosure; with a long enclosure, or one expansion, the max herd size of 10 animals is easily reached.
Level: 1
Cost: 100 ZD
XP: 8
Rarity: 1
Popularity: 10
Popular with: Women
Terrain: Grassland, Forest, Ice
Space: 2
Max herd size: 10
Breeding cost: 100
Breeding time: 1:00
Base success: 50%
Native to: North America, South America, Africa, parts of Asia and Europe
Description: Rabbits are highly adaptable and able to procreate very quickly.
Rabbits in a small grassland enclosure.
With a base success rate of 50%, the rabbit is the easiest animal to breed. Breeding costs 100 ZD and takes only 1 hour to complete. Both genders are identical and young are miniature versions of adults.
Rabbits in an ice enclosure.
Much like real rabbits, game rabbits spend their time foraging for food and sitting up to look around. Their noses are constantly twitching, giving them a look of alert busyness.
Rabbits at max herd size in a forest enclosure.
Like the meerkat, the rabbit is iconic throughout the game. The zoo's mascot is a rabbit and it is also found in some decorations such as the game's 2-year anniversary cake, an item from the 2014 Easter campaign, and others. The rabbit is also frequently used in splash screens, error pages and advertisements.
Rabbit mascot, 2-year anniversary cake, and advertising image.
Many people make the understandable but incorrect assumption that rabbits are rodents. They are actually lagomorphs, along with hares and pikas. Most rabbits, unlike hares, live in burrows. A notable exception is the North American cottontail rabbit, which is an opportunistic above-ground nester.
Rabbits are currently found on every continent except Antarctica, often a result of being introduced intentionally for food. They're also very popular pets, and feral colonies of domestic rabbits are fairly common across the world.
Rabbits have a well-deserved reputation for being prolific breeders. Depending on species, females rabbits can produce litters of 1 to 14 kits every 28 days. Assuming an average litter size of 6 and that half of each litter is female, that's more than 184,000,000,000 rabbits in seven years! Fortunately in most areas extremely high predation keeps their numbers in check.
Rabbits in Literature
Famous bunnies from books include the characters of Richard Adams' 1972 classic Watership Down, which has traumatized many a young person, and also the lead character of James Howe's cult classic Bunnicula (1979).