![]() When European settlers began arriving in Australia during the 1800s all kinds of domestic animals came with them. Many domestic breeds were kept in hutches for food and as pets and of course in stories for the young, rabbits endeared themselves to all. Warreners in fact used to make a good living by selling off their surplus animals and so rabbits became very much a part of the English Way of life. And holes were often dug by hand to encourage the rabbits to breed. ![]() This house was used by a Warrener, who looked after several enclosures that contained specially constructed mounds for warrens. So it was fairly natural that the Norman invaders should be amongst the first to bring rabbits into England, sometime after their conquest in 1066.Īs time passed rabbit farming became a useful means of supplying meat and fur to the people of rural England. It seems that the combined effect of all these predators, including man kept the rabbits in check and they never became a pest in Spain.įrom earliest times, rabbits were hunted and domesticated in parts of Europe. Here in Spain rabbits have many predators. And the Mediterranean climate of a short, dry, summer followed by regular winter rains means that there is always food for the litters of young rabbits in springtime. They thrive in dry sandy soil which is easy to dig. This type of country is thought to be the original home of rabbits. The landscape around these villages looks surprisingly like much of Australia. But our story really all begins in Spain.įor many hundreds of years the people who lived in the villages of southern Spain hunted rabbits for food and sold them in the marketplace. Just how and why this happened makes a fascinating study. ![]() Narrator: The story of the European rabbits in Australia must surely be one of the most amazing examples of an animal’s ability to colonize a new land. It shows that, while rabbits were ideally suited to Australia’s temperate areas, they have also adapted to living in arid country and even in alpine regions. The film shows some aspects of social behaviour, reproduction and predation. Not many animals have ever been studied in such detail, so that we now have a much better understanding of how rabbits feed, breed and survive in different parts of Australia. With the introduction of Myxomatosis in 1950 came the start of a big research effort aimed at a complete understanding of rabbit behaviour and ecology. The long battle to control the rabbit had begun. The rabbit population explosion began about 1860, and within 30 years, rabbit numbers had reached plague proportions over large parts of southern Australia. This film traces the history of the rabbit from its evolutionary home in the Mediterranean through to its introduction into Australia as a source of food and sport and as a reminder of the English countryside. The story of the European rabbit in Australia must surely be one of the most amazing examples of an animal’s ability to colonise a new land.
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