The rabbit is both loved and hated: a charming, cuddly creature, but one with a big appetite. Anne McBride doesn’t avoid either aspect of rabbits but gives fascinating information about their habits and life style. male rabbits, for instance, seem to have an intriguing knack of passing out after copulation and falling off their mates. Female rabbits’ method of ‘absentee care’ of their young means one visit of all of three minutes’ duration to feed their young every 24 hours. However, the babies seem to thrive on this: and one of the problems with rabbits is their numbers. In Australia huge rabbit-proof fences were erected (no. 1 fence being 1,100 miles long and taking 5 years to build; none of them worked). Myxomatosis was introduced in Britain in the ’50s and wiped out 99.99% of the population with enormous effects on the British landscape (including dire results for orchids, the large blue butterfly and the stoat), but due to increasing immunity, rabbit numbers are on the up and have reached 20% of pre-myxomatosis levels. The author discusses humane methods of control - including a possible rabbit contraceptive. Hares on the other hand are not on the increase, partly because modern agricultural practices mean that less stubble is kept during the winter - this used to provide the hare with food. They too have some interesting habits, including racing up and down airfields, alongside aeroplanes, and sitting in circles watching other hares frolicking in the centre.
