When the virus was later introduced into populations of European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), first experimentally in Europe and then deliberately in Australia in 1950, it proved highly lethal, ...
Did you know Australia has a rabbit problem? It’s estimated somewhere around 200 million wild rabbits are hopping around Australia, and they’re causing a lot of damage. Their huge numbers and large ...
Almost two centuries after rabbits were set free across Australia’s fragile landscape, scientists are working to understand a mysterious change that has occurred in their physical nature. Oddly, the ...
What seemed like an innocent Christmas gift of 24 English rabbits in 1859 would go on to become Australia's "most devastating biological invasion," according to a new study by the Proceedings of the ...
Associate Professor Sherratt plans to follow up this research by looking into what environmental factors drive the observed variation in body size and skull shape of Australia's feral rabbits. "We ...
Adelaide, Australia: This "convention" of feral rabbits is a common sight in the "Outback" frontier country near Adelaide, South Australia. How does domestication change wild animals? When ...
Forbes: In 1859, 24 Rabbits ‘Colonized’ A New Continent—A Biologist Tells The Story
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Introduced for the sake of sport, the entry of these ...
In 1859, 24 Rabbits ‘Colonized’ A New Continent—A Biologist Tells The Story
After sequencing the genomes of nearly 300 rabbits from Europe, South America, and Oceania, researchers found that all of them had a mix of feral and domestic DNA. They say this was not what they had ...