In fact the name 'rabbit' was originally
only applied to a young rabbit, with an adult being
called a 'cony' (above). The rabbit was introduced from France
in the 12th century. The rabbit was protected for hundreds
of years by landowners who valued it for its meat, and poaching
was severely punished with even deportation....a "Botany
Bay" job..ah..ah..Jim Lad...enough of that. It became
the most familiar wild animal of the British countryside and
also one of the most destructive agricultural pests.
A social animal, the rabbit lives in colonies in warrens. It
can live almost anywhere, from sea-level to the mountains,
digging burrows on farmland, sand dunes, salt marshes, moorland,
embankments and cliffs. Empty cliff burrows are often taken
over by nesting puffins and shearwaters. The warren is dug
in a haphazard way with interconnecting tunnels, bolt runs
and emergency exits (bit of health and safety here I think).
The burrows damage field boundaries and hedges, and disturb
the surrounding soil, thus encouraging the growth of weeds
such as nettles or ragwort. At breeding time the doe digs a
seperate burrow called a stop, which she lines with hay, straw
and fur from her own body. The stop may either be a 2 - 3 foot
extension of the main warren or a completely seperate excavation
which may eventually be the starting point of a new community.
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