In mammals, gonad differentiation initiates early in foetal life. The molecular mechanisms that underlie gonad differentiation through foetal and neonatal life until puberty have already been studied intensively in mouse species. A cascade of genes has thus been described as the main actors, which regulate specific steps. It is now accepted that early events, which occur during foetal life profoundly determine the sequence of further gonad development. However, foetal life is extremely short in mice when compared with other mammalian species (especially livestock species such as cows, goats, sheep and pigs) and humans. Even though the same events punctuate overall differentiation, the different milestones are not reached at the same time and probably do not have the same effect in each species. It is therefore difficult to rely on data obtained in the mouse to further explain the origin of aberrations in gonad development that may be encountered in other species, especially in humans. The aim of the present study was to report a first insight into gonad differentiation in the rabbit that is an attractive species because of its 31-day long gestation, the timing of female meiosis around birth and the 15-day delay between gonadal switch and the onset of meiosis in the female. The study was achieved by measuring the expression of genes already characterized as being important actors in sex determination and gonad differentiation in mouse species such as the SRY, Aromatase, STRA8, DMC1 and NANOS2 genes. At the same time, gonads were analysed histologically throughout the developmental period, alongside immunohistological localizations of proteins when this was possible. Interestingly, our data highlighted some rabbit-specific findings with respect to the gonad differentiation process.