The homeland of the rabbit is thought to be Spain and Southern France. Historians believe that the name of the country Spain came from the Phoenician word spani, which means rabbit. During the conquest of Spain, the ancient Romans found such a huge number of rabbits there that they called the country rabbit land.
Wild rabbit has a body length of 35-45 cm, and his ears are only 6 cm long fur color brownish gray with small strokes down the body white or with an admixture of gray tone. Widespread wild rabbit in Western and Middle Europe, in northern Africa, acclimatized in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and many islands, particularly the sub-Antarctic areas. Rabbits' habitat is quite diverse. They inhabit the small forests, bushes, parks, and open spaces. More prefer areas with sandy soil, cut terrain with ravines and hills. They avoid proximity of human habitation, and sometimes settle directly near buildings. They live in burrows, often in colonies. Rabbit inhabits the burrow from year to year, and the number of passages in it increases. Long inhabited burrow, is a complex structure. They readily settle in old quarries, using the hollows in them for shelter.
In contrast to hares, rabbits do not go far to forage and hide in burrows at the slightest danger. They do not run very fast, up to 25 km/h at short distances, but they are very agile. Catching an adult rabbit on the ground is difficult even for experienced dogs. Predators catch them more often by sneaking or under guard. Awake rabbits can be seen at any time of day, but they are most active at night. Adult females are very attached to their place, especially if with rabbits. They are reluctant to allow other adult rabbits into their area. Adult males stick to a certain area in close proximity to the female. They breed very quickly. They become sexually mature at the age of less than a year, more often the following spring. They have 3 to 4 litters per year with 3 to 7 cubs in each, making a total of 15 to 20 cubs per female per year. They are more productive in Western Europe where they bring 3-5 litters of 5-6 cubs from March to October. The maximum number of cubs in a brood is 12.
Faster they reproduce in Australia and New Zealand. There, rabbits breed most of the year. In New Zealand, winter breeding almost ceases, and only 10% of females are pregnant. Mass breeding begins there in June and July. Pregnancy in rabbits lasts 28-30 days and can sometimes reach 40 days. Rabbits are born naked and blind. Their eyes open at day 10. Milk-feeding lasts about a month. Mortality of the young is high, especially in rainy times, when burrows get wet or even flooded. During the first three weeks, about 40% of the young die. The lowest mortality rate occurs in places with sandy soil. Many rabbits, especially young rabbits, die of coccidiosis. Life expectancy of rabbits is on average 5 to 6 years.
In many areas of Western Europe in New Zealand and especially in Australia, rabbits cause great harm by eating the vegetation out of the pastures. It is believed that 4-5 rabbits eat as much pasture food as one sheep. To control rabbits in Australia and New Zealand were brought mammals of prey not found there before, such as: fox, ferret, ermine and weasel. But it did not work and the rabbits continued to breed. In Australia fences were built to prevent rabbits from settling in new areas. Although the length of fences in some places up to several tens of kilometers, these measures also did not prevent the danger of rabbits. In the early fifties, the Australians began a bacteriological war on rabbits. They began to infect rabbits with an acute viral disease called myxomatosis. Humans, pets, and other types of wild animals do not get this disease. The initial effect was very large. In many areas of Australia, about 90 percent of rabbits were wiped out. By the 60s, there were more and more animals not killed by myxomatosis but with innate or evolved immunity and rabbit numbers began to recover again.
The rabbit problem is still a problem in Australia today, and in 1840 only 16 rabbits from Europe were brought here.
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