Mob Menagerie: Rabbit

Rabbits can be lured with carrots, golden carrots, or dandelions – and these items can also be used to breed rabbits together. Babies will usually inherit the same fur color as their parents, but if those parents have been moved from another biome then there’s a small chance the baby’s fur will match the new biome instead.

Rabbits do have some natural predators. Wolves and foxes will hunt them for food, so if you’re looking for one, or considering building a rabbit farm, then you might have more luck outside of the taiga biomes that these predators like to hang out in. Conversely, if you’re thinking of making a carrot farm then you might want to avoid rabbit-friendly biomes, because the little griefers love to dig them up and eat them.

If a rabbit happens to die nearby, you’ll be able to recover three things – the first is its hide, which can be crafted into leather. The second is its meat, which can be eaten raw or cooked. Finally, the third is its foot, which drops much more rarely but can be brewed into a potion of leaping or traded with cleric villagers.

Just like in Minecraft, real-world rabbits also come in lots of different types depending on where you find them. There’s even a kind that lives only on volcanoes. They’re found in every continent on the planet except for Antarctica, and are known for their speed, their jumping and burrowing abilities, their prolific breeding, and their general cute fuzzy-wuzziness.

The latter is why they’ve become a popular pet in recent centuries, but they’ve also been farmed as livestock for a couple of thousand years at least – the Romans raised them for their meat, fur and wool. Like in Minecraft, they’re popular prey for real-world wolves and foxes too.

Perhaps the world’s most famous rabbit is the Easter Bunny, who brings eggs to children around Easter time. This character originated in German folklore, and was originally a judge of whether children had been good or disobedient, a lot like how Santa Claus decides whether kids are “naughty or nice”. It spread to America with German immigrants in the 1700s, where the legend evolved into what it is today.

In Minecraft, you won’t find an Easter Bunny. But you will find plenty of the wild variety if you look carefully. So hop to it!