rabbit

Any of several genera of hopping mammals of the order Lagomorpha, which together with hares constitute the family Leporidae. Rabbits differ from hares in bearing naked, helpless young and in occupying burrows.

The Old World rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), originally from southern Europe and North Africa, has now been introduced worldwide. It is bred for meat and for its fur, which is usually treated to resemble more expensive furs. It lives in interconnected burrows called ‘warrens’, unlike cottontails (genus Sylvilagus), of which 13 species are native to North and South America.

In October 1995 a deadly virus, being tested under high-security conditions on Wardang Island off the coast of southern Australia as a means of biological control, was found to have escaped to the mainland. By the following month, rabbit calicivirus (also known as rabbit haemorrhagic disease) had killed rabbits in large numbers in southern Australia. It was deliberately released throughout Australia in September 1996, and bulldozers were then used to destroy warrens. A government report March 1997 revealed that the release of rabbit calcivirus had been much less successful than hoped. It was released at 350 sites but viral activity was evident in only 90 of those.