Customer Reviews

The Private Life of the Rabbit: An Account of the History and Social Behaviour of the Wild Rabbit

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I read this nonfiction book after reading Richard Adams' novel WATERSHIP DOWN. Very interesting, and possibly a good referance piece for somebody that raises rabbits.

By the time I read this study I had been raising a rare breed of domestic rabbit for a little over 2 years. I had developed a pretty good idea from close association of what your average caged domestic bun wanted in a social relationship, given that my breeding program conformed to external (my) design: as an adult they like having a cage they can call their own - and defend if necessary. It's axiomatic that the does rule anything close to resembling a roost, and conjugal visits take place at HIS residence, not hers, if you want to keep your buck from harm!

Due to the objectives of my breeding program - aiming for type, weight gain and docile disposition on top of reproductive capability and disease resistance - I'm not willing to turn everyone out together in my 1/10 acre and validate the intricate social structures observed and discussed at length in this book. But I certainly found it very informative about how wild rabbits form their territorial associations and social relationships in a large, only marginally-confined area and it has continued to give me food for thought in providing as well as I can for my caged, domestic versions.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who works with domestic rabbits as an in-depth contrast to the caged environment; it's filled with detailed observations of unfettered rabbit life out in the wild, with all its pros and cons as compared to the small, tame life our domestic buns blithely know.