Leporidae is a family of small mammals in the order Lagomorpha. A member of this family is called a leporid, or colloquially a hare or rabbit. They are widespread worldwide, and can be found in most terrestrial biomes, though primarily in forests, savannas, shrublands, and grasslands. Leporids are all roughly the same shape and fall within a small range of sizes with short tails, ranging from the 21 cm (8 in) long Tres Marias cottontail to the 76 cm (30 in) long desert hare. Most species do not have population estimates and some are not yet evaluated for conservation status, though nine species are considered endangered and one, the riverine rabbit, is critically endangered with a population size of as low as 100. The domestic rabbit subspecies of the European rabbit has been domesticated.
The 64 extant species of Leporidae are contained within 11 genera. One genus, Lepus, contains 32 species that are collectively referred to as hares; the other eight genera are generally referred to as rabbits, with the majority – 19 species – in Sylvilagus, or the cottontail rabbits. Over one hundred extinct Leporidae species have been discovered, though due to ongoing research and discoveries the exact number and categorization is not fixed.[1]