9781422280959

Rabbit History The ancestors of all our pet rabbits originally came from Spain and Portugal. Fossil remains of rabbits date back over 4,000 years. K nown as the European rabbit, it is one of the most successful of all small animals and is famous for being able to quickly populate an area. This is be- cause their needs are simple. So long as they have plenty of grass (hay) and plants to eat, and ground in which they can dig a warm, safe home, wild rabbits can live and breed almost anywhere. The biggest danger that rabbits face is from meat-eating hunters, and all rabbits are continuously on the lookout for danger. But rabbits have found that safety lies in numbers. If there are a lot of rabbits living together, they can warn each other of danger, and they will be harder to catch. If a hunter approaches, the alarm signal is given by a rabbit thumping the ground with its hind legs, and the rabbits run to the safety of their underground home.

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Rabbits