Rabbit

Rabbit is the story of the winsome long-eared animal that hops through children's stories, myths and legends, and back yards. In this richly illustrated book, Victoria Dickenson explores the natural and cultural history of this most familiar creature. From the giant extinct rabbits of Minorca to the tiny endangered Volcano rabbits of Mexico, the book explores the history of the species, with a special focus on the European rabbit, whose history has been so closely intertwined with that of its greatest predator, humanity. Celebrated for its fur and its flesh, the rabbit owes its worldwide distribution to human intervention. Captain Cook took rabbits to New Zealand to provide food for sailors and settlers. Their introduction in the late nineteenth century to Australia resulted in a disastrous plague of rabbits, which could only be brought under control by the introduction of myxomatosis. The rabbit is a paradox. It is prey, chased by a thousand enemies from eagles to foxes to domestic