Why the Humble Rabbit Might Be Australia's Worst Introduced Species
Scientists say rabbits now threaten more than 300 native species after a 19th-century release led to huge population growth and widespread ecological damage.
4 Articles
4 Articles
Why the humble rabbit might be Australia’s worst introduced species
Wild rabbits drinking from a waterhole on Wardang Island, 1938 Bettman/GettyThe 19th century pastoralist Thomas Austin was homesick. He yearned for the pastimes of his home in England – especially rabbit hunting. He asked his family to send him some rabbits. On Christmas Day in 1859, around two dozen wild and domestic rabbits arrived in Australia. Delighted, Austin released them on his Barwon Park estate near Geelong. A member of the Acclimatisa…
One of the most characteristic cases of human intervention that led to serious ecological consequences is recorded in Australia, where the introduction of European rabbits developed into a problem that authorities have difficulty controlling to this day.
Thousands of kilometers of fences and two different viruses were deployed in Australia to control rabbits, but their adaptation perpetuated the problem.
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