7 famous fictional rabbits

Is the Easter Bunny the most famous rabbit in the world? Quite possibly – but he’s far from the only well-known bunny. From storybooks to the silver screen, we’ve rounded up seven of the best.

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At Easter there’s one famous bunny on everyone’s thoughts – but rabbits aren’t just for chocolatey celebrations, and we think it’s time to show a few other fictional bunnies some love. From picture-book favourites to Disney icons, here are seven of the best. Which one does your own rabbit take after?

Peter Rabbit

In The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published in 1902, Peter’s adventurous spirit gets him in trouble with Mr McGregor, whose vegetable patch Peter can’t resist raiding. Though author Beatrix Potter based his character on her own pet, Peter Piper, a Belgian buck rabbit or ‘Belgian Hare’, in her illustrations he more closely resembles a European rabbit, with a distinctive white fluffy tail.

Character: naughty, brave
Likes: lettuce, radishes
Colouring: light brown
Ears: upright

Thumper

Any Disney fan will recognise Thumper from the 1942 hit film Bambi. Thumper – who got his name from wild rabbits’ habit of thumping their hind feet on the ground when they’re scared or threatened – teaches Bambi plenty of useful things, including how to talk and that blossom tastes better than grass.

Character: mischievous, well-meaning
Likes: blossoms (not greens)
Colouring: light grey
Ears: mostly upright

Bugs Bunny

The wise-cracking Looney Tunes character we know and love made his debut in 1940 and has since featured in a range of cartoons, movies and comic books. Most people don’t know his official name is George Washington Bunny – though with his long ears, long hind legs and solitary existence, in many ways he’s more like a hare than a rabbit. (His first short was even called A Wild Hare.) On the other hand, he does live in a burrow.

Character: clever, fearless
Likes: carrots, carrot juice
Colouring: grey and white
Ears: very long and upright

Rabbit from Winnie-the-Pooh

Along with his Hundred Acre Wood pals, Rabbit was created back in the 1920s by AA Milne, before Disney bought the rights in 1961. He’s bright, meticulous and a natural leader, and close not only to Pooh and Piglet, but dozens of ‘Friends-and-Relations’, including squirrels, mice and beetles as well as other rabbits.

Character: fussy, accident-prone
Likes: vegetables from his garden
Colouring: yellow and white
Ears: upright or drooping according to mood

The White Rabbit from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

One of the most famous rabbits in literature, Lewis Carroll’s perpetually late bunny – famous for his pocket watch – is the reason Alice finds her way to Wonderland: she follows him down the rabbit hole. He’s usually portrayed as having pink eyes, although albino rabbits like the New Zealand White are rare in the wild. (And hardly ever seen in waistcoats.)

Character: jittery, behind schedule
Likes: cakes, jam tarts (probably)
Colouring: white
Ears: upright

Roger Rabbit

In 1988, the ground-breaking film Who Framed Roger Rabbit became famous for blending animated cartoon characters with live action – and brought the eponymous Roger to audiences around the globe. An affable joker falsely accused of murder, he sees his main purpose in life as making people laugh – and with his white colouring and blue eyes, his closest non-toon relative would be a blue-eyed white (known as BEW) rabbit like the White Vienna.

Character: funny, clumsy, cowardly
Likes: Jessica Rabbit
Colouring: white
Ears: upright

The Easter Bunny

We couldn’t leave out this mythical being: a rabbit who delivers chocolate eggs. The myth has its roots in pagan fertility symbols – rabbits, hares and eggs all signified spring and new life – which in 1600s Germany evolved into the Easter Hare. The Oschter Haws was taken to America by German settlers, and from there it was a hop, skip and jump to the 19th century, when the Easter Bunny we know today first appeared.

Character: elusive, generous
Likes: chocolate (although real rabbits can’t eat it)
Colouring: nobody knows
Ears: nobody knows