Wild rabbit
| Wild rabbit | ||||||||||||
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Wild rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Oryctolagus | ||||||||||||
| Lilljeborg , 1873 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Oryctolagus cuniculus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The wild rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) is the only species in the genus Oryctolagus within the rabbit family (Leporidae). It is the ancestral form of all domestic rabbits known in the German-speaking area . Due to their different chromosome numbers, there are no crossbreeds between brown hares and wild rabbits .
features
Wild rabbits have gray-brown fur. In the neck area it is brown to rust-red in color. In contrast to the brown hare , it has relatively short ears (spoons, 6–8 cm), is significantly more delicate (1.3 to 2.2 kg) and has shorter hind legs. The head-trunk length is between 35 and 45 centimeters, the tail (flower) is four to seven centimeters long.
distribution
The original distribution of the wild rabbit after the end of the Vistula Ice Age was limited to most of the Iberian Peninsula , southern France and North Africa . The name Spain is derived from Phoenician and actually means "land of hyrax ", because the Phoenicians did not know the rabbits native to there and used the word for the hyrax known to them from Africa. It has been naturalized in Italy and Western Europe since antiquity , in the Middle Ages it was brought to France and the British Isles , in the early modern period to Germany, in 1934 to the island of Sweti Ivan in Bulgaria and to many other islands in all the oceans .
Today the species lives all over Europe except in central and northern Scandinavia and Iceland . In the 18th and 19th centuries, rabbits were released in Australia (1788 and 1859) and New Zealand . In addition, they were in South Africa and North America naturalized and mid-20th century in South America , after several unsuccessful attempts since the mid-19th century. It also lives on numerous islands in the Pacific , off the African coast and in the Caribbean .
Way of life
Wild rabbits live gregariously in more or less large colonies. They prefer to build underground structures in sandy, loose soil, which is why man-made earth walls are often used as the basis for the structures. The corridors can reach up to three meters into the earth and be 45 meters long. Rabbits are crepuscular animals, but sometimes they can be seen sunbathing early in the morning or during the day in cities where they live as cultural followers . In case of danger, rabbits can whistle loudly and knock with their hind legs on the ground (they “drum”). With this knock, they signal their conspecifics an impending danger.
nutrition
Wild rabbits are herbivores that feed primarily on grass, herbs and leaves. Occasionally they also consume bark and twigs.
The small intestine of the rabbit reaches a length of about 3 to 3.5 meters. Ingested food is not only stored in the stomach, but mainly in the very large appendix (caecum). Since rabbits do not produce cellulose- breaking enzymes , the indigestible plant components are fermented by the intestinal flora , especially in the appendix . The intestinal flora consists mainly of Bacteroides . Approximately half of the caecum which occurs after 2 to 12 hours of storage consists of undigested food components and bacterial biomass. Depending on the time of day, two different types of feces are produced in the rectum. The excrement, which is mainly formed during the night and excreted in the morning, remains soft; it is eaten again by the animal immediately after excretion in order to absorb the bacterial biomass it contains and the vitamins , amino acids and proteins produced during fermentation . The dung produced during the day is removed from the moisture, hard globules are formed which are excreted by the animal and not taken up again. The process is called cecotrophy .
Reproduction and development
Female rabbits do not have a regular sexual cycle. The cycle can vary greatly depending on the season and the individual. Usually seven to ten fertile days alternate with one or two infertile days.
During the fertile period, ovulation can occur at any time due to the act of mating. During the covering, hormones are released via a reflex that trigger ovulation after about twelve hours . Through this mechanism, the sperm , which live on for some time in the uterus of the female, always encounter fresh egg cells.
Fighting occurs during the ramming period , mostly among the males. During these disputes, the animals pull out tufts of hair from each other, which are referred to in the hunter's language as ramming wool .
The mating season depends on the distribution area. In Spain it is between autumn and spring, in Central Europe between February and July and in the southern hemisphere in the other half of the year. The rate of reproduction is enormous: the female can have five to seven litters per year, the gestation period is between four and five weeks and the litter size on average five to six, in exceptional cases up to nine young.
For the birth, the female creates her own burrow away from the community building, the so-called settling tube. It closes the entrance with grass and leaves and scrapes earth over it. Newborns are naked and blind ( nestling ) and weigh around 40 to 50 grams. After ten days they open their eyes, at three weeks they leave the insertion tube for the first time and after four weeks they are weaned from breast milk . Although they become sexually mature earlier, most animals reproduce for the first time in their second year of life.
Life expectancy is a maximum of nine years, but many animals die in their first year of life or do not survive the first winter. Young animals in particular are often attacked by predators or poached cats and dogs, or they starve or die of diseases such as myxomatosis or the Chinese disease .
Natural enemies and diseases
The natural predators of rabbits are among the predators red fox , marten , weasel , polecat , ermine , lynx and wolves . Among the birds, birds of prey , owls and larger representatives of the ravens and crows decimate the rabbit population somewhat ( predator-prey relationship ).
Rabbit populations are also being decimated by myxomatosis , a viral disease caused by the smallpox pathogen Leporipoxvirus myxomatosis . The virus causes severe swelling of the mucous membranes, which is easy to see in sick rabbits. However, while the mortality rate in this disease only at 40 to 60%, has the frequent in recent years, the occurrence of the China Disease (RHD, R Abbit h emorrhagic d isease) affected with a mortality rate of 100 percent disastrous on the stocks in Central Europe .
Since natural enemies of rabbits are lacking in Australia , this led to very strong reproduction and food competition ( intraspecific competition ). All regulatory measures ( fences , shooting, poison ) were unsuccessful. To combat the rabbit population, the myxomatosis virus was introduced in 1951 . However, the animals developed resistance to the virus after about 20 years . Another virus, calicivirus , which triggers the China plague, was introduced in 1995 to decimate the population.
The French microbiologist and university professor Paul-Félix Armand-Delille (1874–1963) was largely responsible for the near extermination of wild rabbits in Europe, with far-reaching consequences for the stock of the lynx population in southern Spain. To counteract a “strong increase” on his land in Maillebois ( Eure-et-Loir department ), on June 14, 1952 , he infected two wild rabbits with a Brazilian myxomatosis virus strain that he had brought from Lausanne . In the following two years, the pathogen causing myxomatosis spread across Europe. In a sense, this led to an ecological catastrophe, as the wild rabbits, for example, are prey of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) (see also predator-prey relationship ), whose population was also greatly decimated as a result.
Systematics
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Phylogenetic systematics of the rabbits according to Matthee et al. 2004
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The wild rabbit is assigned to the hares (Leporidae) as an independent species and monotypical genus . Within the species, the nominate form Oryctolagus cuniculus cuniculus , O. c. algirus , O. c. brachyotus , O. c. cnossius , O. c. habetensis and O. c. huxleyi differentiated six subspecies. The first scientific description of the species by Linnaeus in 1758 in the first volume of the 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Lepus cuniculus . In 1873, Vilhelm Lilljeborg described the genus Oryctolagus and classified the species there.
On the basis of molecular biological data, Conrad A. Matthee et al. In 2004 a cladogram was developed which shows the phylogenetic relationships of the genera within the hares to one another. Accordingly, the wild rabbit is the sister species of the bristle rabbit ( Caprolagus hispidus ), which is widespread in the Himalayas , and forms a taxon with it . This is contrasted by a taxon consisting of the Bushman hare ( Bunolagus monticularis ) and the Ryukyu rabbit ( Pentalagus furnessi ), while the cottontail rabbits ( Sylvilagus ) and the dwarf rabbit ( Brachylagus idahoensis ) that live in America represent the sister group of these four species.
Wild rabbit and human
The wild rabbit was introduced to various regions of the Mediterranean in ancient times. Breeding of domestic rabbits probably began in French monasteries in the second half of the first millennium.
Rabbits are popular game game animals for meat and are also used in animal experiments. They were introduced in many regions where they spread considerably and often became a nuisance. As neozoa, they often endanger native fauna, for example in Australia. When they occur in large numbers, they sometimes cause considerable damage to wildlife by biting into young plants, bushes and crops. Often artificially induced diseases and hunting are used to try to keep the stocks within limits.
In some German federal states, the stocks in the open countryside have declined sharply. Wild rabbits mostly still live in parks, gardens and cemeteries. In some large cities, rabbits are a nuisance on the predominantly sandy soils in the parks and green spaces. They are then sometimes hunted to avoid health problems in large populations.
Hazard and protection
Although the subspecies Oryctolagus cuniculus cuniculus, which is widespread in large parts of Europe, Asia and other regions around the world , is seen as a plague in many habitats and areas, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources places the wild rabbit on the warning list (near threatened). This can be attributed to the fact that the species in their original range on the Iberian Peninsula and in North Africa have declined sharply in recent decades.
Declines in the total population of 95% since 1950, in Spain by 80% since 1975 and in Portugal from 1995 to 2002 by 24%. Considered as causes for this, especially epidemics such as the above myxomatosis and China disease , the decline of suitable habitats, as well as over hunting by humans. In Germany, the number of epidemics has fallen sharply in recent years. The rabbit has disappeared in many places or has stabilized under favorable environmental conditions. Hunting does not pose a threat to the species in regions with stable populations.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Oryctolagus cuniculus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012.2. Listed by: Andrew T. Smith , AF Boyer, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
- ^ F. Lebas, P. Coudert, H. de Rochambeau, RG Thébault: The rabbit - Husbandry, health and production. FAO Animal Production and Health Series , no. 21. new revised version 1997. ISBN 92-5-103441-9 . FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
- ↑ Rabbit calicivirus in Australia on ava.com.au, accessed July 17, 2017.
- ^ Andre Deutsch: The Private Life of the Rabbit. RM Lockley, London 1964
- ↑ MYXOMATOSIS, online
- ^ A b Conrad A. Matthee, Bettine Jansen Van Vuuren, Diana Bell Terence J. Robinson: A Molecular Supermatrix of the Rabbits and Hares (Leporidae) Allows for the Identification of Five Intercontinental Exchanges During the Miocene. Systematic Biology 53 (3); Pp. 433-447. ( Abstract )
- ↑ Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (eds.): Oryctolagus cuniculus ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed).
- ↑ http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/inhalt.jagd-auf-marder-und-fuechse-stadt-jagt-kaninchen-mit-nahmvoegeln-page1.083ddbce-010d-4756-98c0-88ad0db2a2c9.html
literature
- John A. Gibb: The European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus. In: Joseph A. Chapman, John EC Flux (Eds.): Rabbits, Hares and Pikas. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. (PDF file; 10.74 MB) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), Gland 1990, ISBN 2-8317-0019-1 , pp. 116-120.
- Alfred Willy Boback: The wild rabbit: Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linné, 1758). (= Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei . Volume 415). 2nd, unchanged reprint. Westarp Sciences, Hohenwarsleben 2004, ISBN 978-3-89432-791-0 (first edition: Ziemsen, Wittenberg Lutherstadt 1970).
Web links
- Oryctolagus cuniculus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012.2. Listed by: Andrew T. Smith , AF Boyer, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
- spurenjagd.de - Wild rabbit tracks data collection