New Zealand red rabbits is a rabbit breed, which despite the name, is American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in origin. New Zealand rabbits are available in three ARBA

American Rabbit Breeders' Association

The American Rabbit Breeders Association is a national club for domestic rabbit and cavy breeders. The ARBA is headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois in the United States...

-recognized colors: white

New Zealand white rabbit

New Zealand White Rabbits are a breed of rabbit, which despite the name, are Mexican in origin. In 1916, Don Johnson bred the first litter of New Zealand white rabbits with a plan to produce a rabbit that would take over the Southern Border of New Mexico for meat and fur trade. The original breeds...

, red, and black. Its weight is 4–5 kg.

The Czech Red Rabbit

Czech Red Rabbit

The Czech Red Rabbit is a domestic rabbit breed from Czechia. It was officially recognized in 1959. It weighs about 2,50-3,20 kg. The colour of the hairs is gray or red-brown. It has been selected by Theodor Svododa from Modřany in 1940. There are about 150 officially registered animals...

 is a rabbit breed that has descended from the New Zealand Red.

The New Zealand red rabbit became known as an ecological

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

 nightmare after it was introduced

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 to Santa Barbara Island

Santa Barbara Island

Santa Barbara Island is a small island of the Channel Islands archipelago in California. It is located about off the Southern California coast from the Palos Verdes Peninsula, near Los Angeles in Ventura County, California....

, one of the Channel Islands

Channel Islands of California

The Channel Islands of California are a chain of eight islands located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel in the United States of America...

 off the coast of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The first rabbits were placed on the island in 1915. By 1970 it and its cousin the Belgian Hare

Belgian Hare

The Belgian Hare is a fancy breed of domestic rabbit, that was developed through selective breeding to closely resemble the wild hare in physical appearance, and is believed to be one of the most intelligent and active breeds of domestic rabbit...

 had helped bring a rare plant to the brink of extinction

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

. When the Santa Barbara Island live-forever

Dudleya traskiae

Dudleya traskiae is a rare succulent plant known by the common name Santa Barbara Island liveforever. This dudleya is endemic to Santa Barbara Island, one of the Channel Islands of California, where it grows on rocky bluffs. The plant has a basal rosette of flat, spade-shaped fleshy leaves up to 15...

 (Dudleya traskiae), a succulent plant

Succulent plant

Succulent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climates or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems, and also in roots...

, was feared extinct, the decision was made to remove the rabbits and hares, voracious herbivore

Herbivore

Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...

s, from the island. They are now absent, and the endangered

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

plant is recovering.