Rabbits
Michael Blencowe
Learning & Engagement Officer, Sussex Wildlife Trust

Hola readers!  I’m reporting from my holidays in the Spanish Sierra Morena mountains where I’m sat amid twisted cork oaks; tortilla in one hand, telescope in the other.  I’ve been scanning the silent savanna for hours in the hope of spotting a very rare animal – a rabbit.

Rabbits are so common in Sussex that it’s hard to believe they could be rare anywhere, but here in Spain they’ve hopped onto the endangered species list.  This is all rather embarrassing for the Spanish because Spain (along with Portugal and North Africa) are the ancestral homes of the rabbit.  Indeed the word ‘Spain’ (or España, por favor) means “land of the rabbits”.

Rabbits were perfectly happy here in their native Iberia and had no plans of moving, so it must have bugged these bunnies when they were rounded up by the Romans and transported all over Europe to be farmed and eaten as a delicacy.  The first British rabbits were carried over the channel 2000 years ago and subsequent waves of invaders brought more.  By the 12th century rabbits had become acclimatised and established in the English countryside.  They dug for victory, their burrows and warrens spread across Europe and the hole-y rabbit empire flourished.  For our ancestors, rabbit meat provided a heartening meal and boy! – was it plentiful.   As we all know, rabbits breed like, well, rabbits (which is pretty rich coming from us, a species whose population has doubled since 1970).   The male (buck) and female (doe) can produce 7 litters of 4-8 kittens each year.   It doesn’t take a statistician to work out that quickly adds up to many millions of munching mouths eating our crops and countryside; and presenting economic and ecological problems.  But despite being despised the rabbit also became domesticated and adored.  A journey from pot to pest to pet.

This all-powerful rabbit tsunami seemed unstoppable; but they hadn’t counted on one man:  Monsieur Armand-Delille.  This Parisian professor hated the rabbits on his small country estate so in 1952 he injected a pair of them with a new disease called Myxomatosis.  This spark started an inferno.  In just one year these two simple injections inadvertently led to the death of 90% of all the rabbits in Europe.  This virulent flea-borne disease did not discriminate and back in Iberia the original Spanish rabbits were wiped out too.  Against other pressures their population has never recovered. 

Of course I haven’t travelled to Spain to watch rabbits.  I’m looking for an animal that’s looking for rabbits – the Iberian lynx: the rarest cat in the world.   The collapse in rabbit numbers had also impacted their predators and by 2005 the 150 lynx left on the planet faced extinction. Now, thanks to a rabbit re-introduction programme, the missing lynx are slowly returning to these mountains.  So did I find one? That’s a story for another day.

Sussex Wildlife Trust is an independent charity caring for wildlife and habitats throughout Sussex.  Founded in 1961, we have worked with local people for over half a century to make Sussex richer in wildlife.  

We rely on the support of our members to help protect our rich natural heritage.  Please consider supporting our work.  As a member you will be invited to join Michael Blencowe on our regular wildlife walks and also enjoy free events, discounts on wildlife courses, Wildlife magazine and our Sussex guide book, Discovering Wildlife.  It’s easy to join online at: www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/join or over the phone on 01273 497532.

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rabbit©Roger Wilmshurst_Sussex Wildlife Trust.