tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/rabbits-14134/articlesRabbits – The Conversation2024-02-20T23:41:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2219922024-02-20T23:41:46Z2024-02-20T23:41:46ZRidding Macquarie Island of pests pays off as seabirds come back from the brink – but recovery has just begun<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572744/original/file-20240201-21-lmp93f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C2472%2C1643&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An Antarctic prion</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_prion#/media/File:Antarctic_Prion_0A2A3422.jpg">JJ Harrison/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the largest publicly funded <a href="https://parks.tas.gov.au/Documents/Evaluation_Report_Macquarie_Island_Pest_Eradication_Project.pdf">conservation investments</a> in history is starting to pay off on Macquarie Island, our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14239">newly published study</a> shows. </p>
<p>Sealers and whalers introduced cats, rats, rabbits and other animals to the island in the 19th century. Their impacts devastated the millions of seabirds breeding on the island. Numbers fell to a fraction of their former populations.</p>
<p>From 2011-14, the last non-native pests were cleared from the island. It was the end of a deadly chapter in the island’s history during which two bird species, a rail and a parakeet, were lost from the planet forever.</p>
<p>We looked for signs of recovery in populations of petrels, a group of highly specialised seabirds. We found that species listed as threatened have recovered to the point where they can be delisted. There’s still a long way to go, though, before their populations return to historical levels.</p>
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<img alt="A field research hut on Macquarie Island" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572646/original/file-20240201-25-hx7xmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572646/original/file-20240201-25-hx7xmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572646/original/file-20240201-25-hx7xmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572646/original/file-20240201-25-hx7xmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572646/original/file-20240201-25-hx7xmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572646/original/file-20240201-25-hx7xmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572646/original/file-20240201-25-hx7xmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Government-maintained research huts have supported science on Macquarie Island for over 70 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Bird</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-good-news-25-australian-birds-are-now-at-less-risk-of-extinction-the-bad-news-29-are-gone-and-4-more-might-be-222759">The good news: 25 Australian birds are now at less risk of extinction. The bad news: 29 are gone and 4 more might be</a>
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<h2>A highly threatened group of birds</h2>
<p>Petrels can live for decades and spend most of their lives over the open oceans far from land. Some circumnavigate the Pacific each year. </p>
<p>Petrels return to land only to breed on remote islands that are naturally free of mammalian predators.</p>
<p>Under natural circumstances petrels can be enormously abundant. This means they play important roles in marine food webs. And, by transferring marine nutrients to breeding islands, they enrich whole island ecosystems. </p>
<p>Petrels usually come ashore only at night and nest in underground burrows to ward off predatory birds. However, these behaviours have been no defence against the cats and rats introduced to most of the world’s islands. As a result, petrels are among the world’s most threatened bird groups. </p>
<p>These habits make petrels extremely difficult to study, so good information is lacking. We used <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rse2.235">novel technologies</a> and <a href="https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ecog.06204">new analytical approaches</a> to calculate the population and distribution of four species across Macquarie Island and to compare these with surveys from the 1970s. </p>
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<img alt="Blue Petrels swirl around their nesting colony in the dark" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572583/original/file-20240131-17-qiigv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572583/original/file-20240131-17-qiigv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572583/original/file-20240131-17-qiigv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572583/original/file-20240131-17-qiigv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572583/original/file-20240131-17-qiigv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572583/original/file-20240131-17-qiigv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572583/original/file-20240131-17-qiigv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">At night, blue petrels come ashore to their nests, now back on the main island since pests were eliminated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Bird</span></span>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-dead-and-dying-seabirds-washing-up-on-our-beaches-in-their-hundreds-217349">Why are dead and dying seabirds washing up on our beaches in their hundreds?</a>
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<h2>What did the study find?</h2>
<p>Antarctic prions (<em><a href="https://ebird.org/species/dovpri1">Pachyptila desolata</a></em>) remain the most widespread and common of the four species. They survived on the barren, elevated interior of the island in areas relatively inhospitable to predators. There are about 160,000 breeding pairs today, increasing by around 1% each year.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, cats ate an estimated 11,000 white-headed petrels (<em><a href="https://ebird.org/species/whhpet1/">Pterodroma lessonii</a></em>) each year. Only 15% of nests were successfully fledging chicks. Today there are about 12,800 pairs with a breeding success rate of about 80%.</p>
<p>White-headed petrels’ range remains smaller than it was, and they were likely close to extinction before cats were eradicated in 2001. <a href="https://nre.tas.gov.au/conservation/threatened-species-and-communities/lists-of-threatened-species/threatened-species-vertebrates">Listed as vulnerable in Tasmania</a>, the population is growing by 1% a year and now warrants delisting.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A side view of a Grey Petrel in flight" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572734/original/file-20240201-17-vmv1x7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Grey petrels number in the low hundreds but are increasing by 10% a year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Procellaria_cinerea_2_-_SE_Tasmania.jpg">JJ Harrison/WIkimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Two species, grey petrel (<em><a href="https://ebird.org/species/grapet/">Procellaria cinerea</a></em>) and blue petrel (<em><a href="https://ebird.org/species/blupet1/">Halobaena caerulea</a></em>), became extinct on the main island in the 1900s. Grey petrels disappeared altogether, while 500–600 pairs of blue petrels survived on a few coastal rock stacks. Both have now recolonised the main island. </p>
<p>Grey petrels still number only in the low hundreds and blue petrels in the thousands, but are increasing at more than 10% each year. Our data suggest blue petrels no longer qualify as a <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl">federally listed vulnerable species</a>. Grey petrels will no longer qualify for listing as endangered in Tasmania if they increase at the same rate until 2026.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a graph showing changes in the populations of 4 petrel species as pests were eliminated" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=214&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=214&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=214&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572602/original/file-20240131-29-ciol24.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Petrel populations have increased as cats and then rabbits and rats were eradicated from Macquarie Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Bird</span></span>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/penguin-paradise-and-geological-freak-why-macquarie-island-deserves-a-bigger-marine-park-201368">Penguin paradise and geological freak: why Macquarie Island deserves a bigger marine park</a>
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<h2>Recovery has only just begun</h2>
<p>It is testament to the hard work of all those involved in eradicating invasive species that these bird species are showing signs of recovery. Yet we found ourselves pondering what “recovery” really means. </p>
<p>We don’t know what Macquarie Island was like before humans first visited in 1810. To try to understand this, we identified suitable areas for recovering petrel populations by comparing with analogous islands with different invasive species histories. </p>
<p>The species we studied still occupy only a tiny fraction of the island. They were almost certainly many times more abundant historically. It will take decades for populations to fulfil their ecological roles again – if threats like climate change and <a href="https://theconversation.com/avian-influenza-has-killed-millions-of-seabirds-around-the-world-antarctica-could-be-next-216738">avian influenza</a> don’t halt their recovery.</p>
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<img alt="A researcher surveying by torchlight" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572625/original/file-20240201-21-fqefgb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572625/original/file-20240201-21-fqefgb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572625/original/file-20240201-21-fqefgb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572625/original/file-20240201-21-fqefgb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572625/original/file-20240201-21-fqefgb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572625/original/file-20240201-21-fqefgb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572625/original/file-20240201-21-fqefgb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A researcher identifies a soft-plumaged petrel (<em>Pterodroma mollis</em>) in their spotlight while surveying at night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Bird</span></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/avian-influenza-has-killed-millions-of-seabirds-around-the-world-antarctica-could-be-next-216738">Avian influenza has killed millions of seabirds around the world: Antarctica could be next</a>
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<h2>A vision of an island of abundance reborn</h2>
<p>This is our vision of Macquarie Island if these amazing birds make a full recovery.</p>
<p>Days before visitors first sight land, thousands of seabirds swirl around the ship at sea. The white undersides of blue petrels and prions outnumber the spindrift cresting each wave. Rather than ones or twos, there’s a constant stream of white-headed and soft-plumaged petrels. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A White-Headed Petrel flies over the ocean" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572642/original/file-20240201-25-jq88t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Instead of seeing white-headed petrels fly past in ones and twos, we hope to see many more in future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/whiteheaded-petrel-pterodroma-lessonii-flight-over-1439797040">Agami Photo Agency/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>On the island, all must tread carefully, sticking to managed paths to avoid collapsing burrows in the super-colonies that cover seaward-facing slopes. These areas, once denuded by rabbit grazing, have revegetated. A labyrinth of tunnels through the undergrowth blurs the lines between the surface and underground world. </p>
<p>In places the smell of ammonia is powerful. Even more pervasive is the warm, musty smell associated with petrel plumage. </p>
<p>By day, predatory skuas patrol the colonies, going from burrow entrance to entrance, as the occupants sit silently within. As the sun sinks, a scan from land with binoculars finds the petrels approaching en masse, loitering over coastal waters as they wait for the cover of darkness. </p>
<p>At dusk, black silhouettes swarm like flies up and down the coastal hills. Where once the night was silent save for the wind, the slopes are bubbling with the purr and chatter of blue petrels, the “<a href="https://subantarcticconservation.org/burrowing-petrels/">kwick, kwick, kwick</a>” calls of white-headed petrels and the mournful cries of <a href="https://ebird.org/species/soppet1/">soft-plumaged petrels</a>. Once a forlorn few, the calls have become an excited cacophony.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justine Shaw receives funding from the Australian Antarctic Science Program, the Australian Research Council and Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Australia. She is a member of the Commonwealth Government's Threatened Species Scientific Committee, and a director of the Landscape Recovery Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeremy Bird and Richard Fuller do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of the world’s largest programs to eradicate multiple predators and pests has started to restore the island and its once vast nesting colonies to their former glory.Jeremy Bird, Research Associate, Ecology and Biodiversity, University of TasmaniaJustine Shaw, Senior Research Fellow in Antarctic and island conservation science, Queensland University of TechnologyRichard Fuller, Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1977972023-01-19T19:13:20Z2023-01-19T19:13:20ZIn the Year of the Rabbit, spare a thought for all these wonderful endangered bunny species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505262/original/file-20230119-21616-yr6324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4858%2C3236&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A black-tailed jackrabbit.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ranchorunner/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What do you think when you hear the word “rabbit”? Does your mind conjure images of cartoon bunnies eating carrots? Or the fluffy tails and floppy ears of pet bunnies? Maybe you think about their incredible ability to reproduce. </p>
<p>For many Australians, “rabbit” is synonymous with “pest” because of their infamous introduction and subsequent <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2122734119">invasion around 164 years ago</a>. The destruction rabbits cause to Australian landscapes is harmful and serious, but there’s a lot more to bunnies when we cast our thoughts overseas.</p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2023/01/01/lifestyle/chinese-zodiac-rabbit-2023/">the Year of the Water Rabbit</a> starting in the Chinese calendar on January 22, it’s the perfect time to expand your rabbit knowledge across the far reaches of the globe, highlighting several species that really need our support.</p>
<h2>What, if anything, is a rabbit?</h2>
<p>Called rabbits and hares in some regions, and cottontails and jackrabbits in others, the long-eared animals <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2406062">we tend to call bunnies</a> and the lesser-known pikas (small mountain-dwelling animals from Asia and North America) form a group of animals known as <a href="https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lagomorpha/">Lagomorpha</a>.</p>
<p>There are in fact about 108 lagomorph species currently recognised by science, found on all continents except Antarctica. They are the evolutionary cousins of rodents and sit very closely to our primate branch in the tree of life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small russet rodent perched on a red rock, it has small round ears but otherwise looks like a rabbit" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505247/original/file-20230118-9302-2f8ixd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mountain-dwelling pikas are closely related to rabbits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://inaturalist.ca/observations/33938724">Vladimir Arkhipov/iNaturalist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2013, researchers found that more than two-thirds of rabbit species <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-threatens-more-than-two-thirds-of-rabbit-species-40281">were already threatened by climate change</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, the number of species that are endangered or critically endangered has risen from 13 to 16 on the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?taxonomies=100228&searchType=species">International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List</a>. The rabbits need our help.</p>
<h2>Real-world water rabbits</h2>
<p>Water rabbits are not just an astrological fancy. The swamp rabbit (<em>Sylvilagus aquaticus</em>) and marsh rabbit (<em>S. palustris</em>) of North America are adapted to living in wetlands and are known to swim. Luckily <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41303/45192995">these species</a> <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41296/45190578">are marked</a> as least concern on the conservation IUCN Red List.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iBvKq55uMOc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>There’s also the riverine rabbit (<em>Bunolagus monticularis</em>), a majestic, reddish-coloured rabbit from South Africa that inhabits the banks of rivers and streams. Critically endangered, this species faces not just the effects of climate change and habitat destruction, but another unexpected threat – other bunnies.</p>
<p>In this case, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01106">camera traps</a> have identified <em>Lepus</em> hares are the problem. When resources become scarce, competition is fierce. The hares are larger and generalist in nature. They can eat a broader diet and adapt to more varied environments, and are competitively displacing the riverine rabbits.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large rabbit with reddish ears and a mottled grey back seen from behind in a grassy field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505241/original/file-20230118-23-cciwrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The riverine rabbit is critically endangered as its native habitat continues to shrink.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://inaturalist.ca/observations/70659697">Paul Carter/iNaturalist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not all rabbits make endless babies</h2>
<p>The breeding capacity of rabbits is notorious, but not all species have the same voracity for reproduction.</p>
<p>On two subtropical islands in southwestern Japan live Amami rabbits (<em>Pentalagus furnessi</em>), sometimes referred to as a “<a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/images/i00064/">living fossil</a>” because they have primitive characters like small ears and legs better for scurrying than hopping.</p>
<p>Almost black, Amami rabbits inhabit dense tropical forests, and are sadly endangered. This species is unusual among lagomorphs in having only one – rarely two – offspring in a litter. This breeding habit is fitting to an island species with no carnivorous predators (think New Zealand birds). Until, of course, some are introduced.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dark grey, short-eared bunny sitting on brown leaf litter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505248/original/file-20230118-16643-fbw5ft.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Amami rabbit is almost black, and unusually slow to reproduce compared to its rabbit brethren elsewhere in the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/127061303">orthoptera-jp/iNaturalist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To combat snakes, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-007-9100-6">Indian mongoose were introduced on the islands in 1979</a>, which inevitably found the rabbits to be a tasty treat. Authorities are now working on a mongoose eradication program to save the endemic rabbits and birds from extinction.</p>
<h2>Mountains as refuges in a changing world</h2>
<p>While the islands in Japan have proven treacherous for the Amami rabbit, elsewhere mountains may become islands for species facing a changing climate.</p>
<p>In the Annamite Range mountains of Vietnam and Laos lives another endemic rabbit (<em>Nesolagus timminsi</em>), striped in black and reddish-brown. This endangered species is among the least understood rabbits, but we do know it’s under threat from <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/littleknown-endemic-caught-in-the-southeast-asian-extinction-crisis-the-annamite-striped-rabbit-nesolagus-timminsi/892C0C7A945017D272682F6AB21AC685">intensive poaching</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5oRbLe4zYvg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In the mountains of Mexico resides another endangered bunny – the volcano rabbit (<em>Romerolgaus diazi</em>). It is one of the smallest rabbit species in the world, in trouble due to the effects of cattle grazing <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/factors-affecting-presence-and-relative-abundance-of-the-endangered-volcano-rabbit-romerolagus-diazi-a-habitat-specialist/F41F89A34B08D5F80B7ABC0A01244020">and land conversion for agriculture</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A very small dark brown rabbit hiding in grass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505259/original/file-20230118-8082-a6bi16.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The tiny and adorable volcano rabbit is endemic to a handful of volcanoes in Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://inaturalist.nz/observations/40196555">Saúl Saldaña/iNaturalist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Even the European rabbit is in trouble</h2>
<p>Rabbits may be at plague proportions <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-07/nca-shoots-rabbits-near-parliament-to-control-numbers/100680890">in parts of Australia</a>, but in their place of origin they are struggling.</p>
<p>The European rabbit (<em>Oryctolagus cuniculus</em>) is the only species of rabbit-kind to have been domesticated, and their expansive distribution across the world is a result of hungry humans who used them for food.</p>
<p>But in their native range – the Iberian Peninsula – their numbers are dwindling. In fact, we need conservation action because these rabbits are a keystone prey species for the Iberian lynx, which is making its comeback from being <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2022/05/how-this-golden-eyed-feline-became-the-biggest-comeback-in-cat-conservation">the most endangered cat in the world</a>. The recent European <a href="https://www.iberconejo.eu/en/home/">LIFE Iberconejo project</a> has been set up for governance, recognising the need for a balance between rabbits in a healthy ecosystem and rabbits as agricultural pests.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A greyscale shot of a round watering hole almost entirely encircled in rabbits" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505267/original/file-20230119-24-2eec92.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabbits on Wardang Island, South Australia during a biological control research trial, 1938.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/environment-and-nature/conservation/rabbits-around-waterhole-during-myxomatosis-trial">CSIRO</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Protecting biodiversity</h2>
<p>Many of the endangered lagomorph species have unique traits that are still to be <a href="https://www.worldlagomorphsociety.org/">uncovered by scientists</a>. Limited geographical distributions and habitat preferences make them vulnerable to a changing environment and difficult to study.</p>
<p>That is why citizen science is valuable for these species, because local eyes keenly spotting animals is one of the best methods for data collection. So make your Lunar New Year’s resolution to be a bunny advocate.</p>
<p>For example, you can go to the <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=43094">iNaturalist</a> network to familiarise yourself with the diversity of species. And next time you’re on holiday and you see a rabbit, be sure to snap a picture and upload your sighting.</p>
<p>Campaigns like “<a href="https://ewt.org.za/sp-feb-2021-begging-for-bunnies/">Begging for Bunnies</a>” by the Endangered Wildlife Trust are also valuable in the effort to preserve our planet’s biodiversity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Sherratt works for University of Adelaide, is an Honorary Researcher at the South Australian Musueum, and receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a member of the World Lagomorph Society.</span></em></p>You might think of bunnies as ubiquitous, but it’s actually a relatively small group of species – and many of them are unique, little-known, and in trouble.Emma Sherratt, Senior Research Fellow in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1760282022-02-24T01:30:55Z2022-02-24T01:30:55ZReleasing a virus against rabbits is effective, but can make them immune if let loose at the wrong time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443385/original/file-20220131-13-1oe5v55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C32%2C5356%2C3533&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rabbits are an enormous problem for Australian ecosystems – they’re a major threat to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/pdf/PC18024_CO">322 species</a> of plants and animals already at risk of extinction. This is more than double the number of species threatened by cats and foxes.</p>
<p>To keep rabbit numbers down, many land managers roll out rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus, a powerful biocontrol. Land managers play a crucial role in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320708004199">conserving the environment</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.13416">managing pest species</a> – their involvement is essential to the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320708004199">success</a> of many conservation programs. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.12639">our new research</a> finds around three quarters of land managers who reported releasing the biocontrol don’t follow the recommended guidelines, and release it during the peak rabbit breeding period. This potentially leads to the population actually <em>increasing</em> as young rabbits build an immunity to the virus. </p>
<p>It’s highly likely this widespread inappropriate use has substantial environmental and economic consequences. Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus must be released strategically with caution, or the good intentions of land managers may have terrible outcomes.</p>
<h2>Rabbits are an enormous threat</h2>
<p>Rabbits arguably have the most significant <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/pdf/PC18024_CO">environmental</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/aehr.12000?casa_token=DfYxIwu-KlYAAAAA:j0hNekh_rjW5rQPmeFFN_W9LUsAgoAh_6TKcYr3-nVXWKG9GdZPqlPJxhRe3wDZUJW-6OwDVFoeKO6s">economic</a> <a href="https://www.wool.com/globalassets/wool/sheep/pest-animals/wild-dogs-foxes--pigs/iacrc_economicimpactsreport.pdf">impact</a> <a href="https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03333979/document">of</a> all pest animals in Australia. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-underestimate-rabbits-these-powerful-pests-threaten-more-native-wildlife-than-cats-or-foxes-168288">Don't underestimate rabbits: these powerful pests threaten more native wildlife than cats or foxes</a>
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<p>They prevent the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3543436?origin=crossref">long-term regeneration</a> of trees and shrubs by continually eating young seedlings. This has immense flow-on effects for the availability of food and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-4877.2008.00078.x">shelter</a> for other animals, <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cobi.12684">such as</a> the dusky hopping mouse, plains mouse and crest-tailed mulgara, and their ability to avoid <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13065">predators</a>. </p>
<p>Rabbits also <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC090158">spread weeds</a>, support <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-019-02131-5">populations of</a> <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/wr00101">introduced</a> <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/WR99065">predators</a> such as cats and foxes, cause soil erosion and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420309252?via%3Dihub">reduce the ability of soil</a> to absorb moisture and support vegetation growth.</p>
<p>Reductions in rabbit numbers after 1950 have been estimated to benefit the agricultural industry to the tune of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aehr.12000">A$1 billion</a> annually. However, the damage they wreak still costs Australian agriculture an estimated <a href="https://ssaa.org.au/assets/news-resources/hunting/the-economic-impacts-of-vertebrate-pests-in-australia.pdf">A$200 million</a> annually.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grazing competition from rabbits has been attributed to the decline of southern hairy-nosed wombats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Taggart</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Good intentions but bad outcomes</h2>
<p>Two major viral rabbit biocontrols have been introduced to Australia: myxomatosis (introduced in 1950) and rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (introduced in 1995). Both viruses have proven to be highly effective in reducing Australia’s rabbit numbers.</p>
<p>They now circulate naturally in Australia and continue to reduce rabbit numbers across the entire country, resulting in enormous environmental and economic benefits. Land managers can intentionally release rabbit haemorrhagic disease to help reduce rabbit numbers at more local scales, such as on a farm. But it’s crucial the biocontrol is released at the right time. </p>
<p>In young rabbits, less than <a href="https://ria.asturias.es/RIA/bitstream/123456789/7222/1/Archivo.pdf">10</a> <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/pdf/WR00119">weeks</a> <a href="https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-11-109">old</a> or so, rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus is not lethal. Instead, infection in this cohort primes their immune system and leaves them with life-long immunity to the virus. </p>
<p>It’s therefore recommended to not release rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus when young rabbits are present, as this increased immunity will make the rabbit population harder to control in future.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two rabbits" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443671/original/file-20220201-25-5ceges.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabbits have taken a severe toll on native wildlife since they were introduced to Australia in 1859.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So when are young rabbits present?</h2>
<p>The colloquial term “breed like rabbits” has a lot of truth to it. Rabbits can breed year-round, but their breeding predominately follows the availability of <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/cw/cwr9600021">green grass</a>. This is because green grass is higher in protein than dry grass, which benefits both lactating female rabbits and developing young.</p>
<p>In southern Australia, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/pdf/wr9870491">studies on</a> rabbit breeding patterns show they usually breed continuously between May and October. Only in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049964419304815?casa_token=EIDS4wrM3CUAAAAA:ybdzTCW1Wj0d-zluP5hCiQJFkMt8KZSPhuy5SSCWq5eRM_4aYs7ox4-5bEXBxfR4dpFxgQWnpA">severest of droughts</a> do they not breed during this period. </p>
<p>When we account for the duration of rabbit pregnancy (28-31 days) and that young rabbits up to 10 weeks old aren’t killed by the biocontrol, we can generally expect young rabbits to be continuously present between July and December. </p>
<p>As a result, rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus should not be released between July and December.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-biocontrol-fights-invasive-species-31298">Explainer: how 'biocontrol' fights invasive species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And yet, <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.12639">our new research</a> shows 47% of all biocontrol supply and 74% of reported releases occurs during this major anticipated rabbit breeding season, when the risk of immunising young rabbits is greatest. In fact, we found unseasonal biocontrol use in all states except Tasmania and the ACT where the data were insufficient.</p>
<p>This is a major problem, as the young rabbits’ <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/pdf/WR00119">life-long</a> <a href="https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-11-109">immunity</a> will lead to their increased survival and recruitment into the breeding population. This was confirmed experimentally in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/tbed.14421?casa_token=9cIM4wPEeZ4AAAAA:AZYGrkHmo-qgZE-Ucr1NrQ53ja5DcUlzAAg6qbwdcvVXCK4fM36Xu4glGjmgMW50EFwSBqnhjhdPUvk">a study</a> last year on European rabbits, which showed releasing a very similar virus during the breeding season does indeed lead to the increased survival of young rabbits.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443388/original/file-20220131-17-gncjxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabbits don’t breed in only the severest of droughts in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where do we go from here?</h2>
<p>The management of rabbits, or any pest species, must be strategic and given appropriate critical thought. If this isn’t done, negative consequences can and do occur. The last thing we want is to make our problem worse.</p>
<p>In the case of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus and rabbit management, we must consider restricting access to the virus, either with seasonal restrictions or restricting its use to people who are highly specialised and trained. </p>
<p>We must also practice integrated pest management. This is where no single management technique is considered a silver bullet, and land managers employ a range of measures to achieve the optimal outcome. When managing rabbits at local scales, we should more strongly consider other management techniques, such as the removal of warrens, burrows or above-ground harbor, trapping, fencing, warren fumigation, shooting or poison baiting. </p>
<p>Many pest animals and plants are managed worldwide for both environmental and economic reasons, and land managers are often encouraged to contribute, and asked to follow implementation guidelines. Our study is a warning to other conservation activities – land managers must follow these important guidelines or they may see problems get worse. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-cat-one-year-110-native-animals-lock-up-your-pet-its-a-killing-machine-138412">One cat, one year, 110 native animals: lock up your pet, it's a killing machine</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176028/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pat Taggart works for the Department of Primary Industries NSW and receives funding from the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, and the Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. </span></em></p>New research finds 74% of land managers who reported releasing a powerful biocontrol release it during the peak rabbit breeding period. This can lead to rabbit populations actually increasing.Pat Taggart, Adjunct Fellow, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1710232021-11-02T17:04:54Z2021-11-02T17:04:54ZFive ways to help your pets cope with fireworks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429722/original/file-20211102-19-1ao0qgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4961%2C3104&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/timelapse-photography-of-fireworks-40663/">Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fireworks can be a spectacular addition to many of our annual celebrations. But sadly they can cause serious distress to our pets. </p>
<p>Many animals show an instinctive fear response to sudden and unexpected loud noises. The bangs, crackling and whistling sounds made by fireworks can be particularly terrifying, especially when displays last for more than a few minutes.</p>
<p>Some pets will adapt and become used to them, but others can develop more deep-seated distress responses. One of my own dogs reacts badly, and this has become progressively worse as she has got older.</p>
<p>With several festive celebrations potentially involving fireworks on the horizon, now is a good time to consider how best to help our pets remain as calm and happy as possible. </p>
<p>Here are some ways to help your pets cope with the noisiest night of the year.</p>
<h2>1. Use reassurance to help them feel safe</h2>
<p>The advice is often to ignore your scared pet because you might be “rewarding” the fear. But fear is an emotion and <a href="https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/you-cant-reinforce-fear-dogs-and-thunderstorms">cannot be reinforced</a> in the same way that behaviour can be. </p>
<p>Fear is an <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(12)01435-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982212014352%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">essential protective mechanism</a> to help animals avoid or cope with frightening or dangerous situations. </p>
<p>Animals will often show fight, flight or freeze responses when fearful. We can help our pets cope by providing safety and security when they are afraid. </p>
<p>If your pet seeks comfort from you, be kind, supportive and reassuring through vocal communication and physical touch. But be sure to remain relaxed and upbeat. If you are worried and anxious, you might <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01678/full">transfer that to your pet</a> as they are often adept at picking up on our emotions. </p>
<p>Snuggling up with the TV or radio on to drown out the noise from outside often works for many dogs and cats. Some cats might prefer a quiet, den-like space. </p>
<p>For outdoor pets such as rabbits, consider bringing them indoors or finding other ways to limit their firework exposure.</p>
<h2>2. Use food, toys and games to distract and calm</h2>
<p>Providing food, treats or toys can be a great way to distract your worried pet. You might even build positive associations with fireworks by doing this. Training or other fun activities can also be useful. </p>
<p>Dogs can benefit from the use of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159119301868?via%3Dihub">scented toys</a> and sniffing games. There is research to suggest that using their noses can even make them <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159118304325?via%3Dihub">more optimistic</a>. Many cats love toys filled with catnip, which can have a significant <a href="https://www.cats.org.uk/derby/cats-and-catnip">calming effect</a>.</p>
<p>Puzzle or activity feeding toys might be useful in prolonging the delivery of treats as well as giving your pet something else to think about – these are available for cats, dogs, rabbits and other pets.</p>
<h2>3. Keep your pets indoors after dark</h2>
<p>Every year, pets go missing when scared by fireworks. On bonfire night, the number of dogs that go <a href="https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media-centre/2021/october/missing-dogs-doubles-during-fireworks-season/">missing doubles</a>. </p>
<p>Simple measures, including checking garden and fencing security, can play a large part in reducing the risk of a scared animal escaping. Ensure that your pet’s microchip details are up to date so that if the worst does happen, they have a much better chance of being returned to their home. </p>
<p>Collars with identity tags are a simple but effective measure, and, in the UK, are also a <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/901/article/2/made">legal requirement</a> for dogs in public places. It is worth ensuring that your dogs are exercised in daylight, before the fireworks start. If you do need to go out when it’s dark, keeping them on lead will reduce the risk of them bolting if suddenly scared. But it’s best to avoid going out during fireworks displays if at all possible.</p>
<p>Cats should always be kept indoors on bonfire night, so call them in well before dusk - and lock their cat flap if they have one so they cannot sneak out. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429729/original/file-20211102-19-1kr0gjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429729/original/file-20211102-19-1kr0gjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429729/original/file-20211102-19-1kr0gjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429729/original/file-20211102-19-1kr0gjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429729/original/file-20211102-19-1kr0gjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429729/original/file-20211102-19-1kr0gjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429729/original/file-20211102-19-1kr0gjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reassuring your cat will help calm its nerves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-gray-and-white-tabby-cat-7516103/">RODNAE Productions / Pexels</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Consider medication, alongside behavioural support</h2>
<p>If your pet shows severe fear responses, then seeking veterinary and qualified behavioural advice is essential. </p>
<p>Your vet is the best person to advise you and might be able to prescribe a tranquilliser to support your pet. </p>
<p>Medications are often best used alongside a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/vnj.12183">behaviour modification plan</a>, so working with an experienced trainer who uses positive reinforcement or an animal behaviourist is a good longer-term strategy.</p>
<p>Animals in pain might also show <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2018.00017">increased noise reactivity</a> so it is important to seek veterinary advice to help pets who suffer from other conditions, especially with older animals.</p>
<h2>5. Train your pet to get used to loud noises</h2>
<p>Exposing young animals to a range of sights and sounds is a simple way to minimise potential noise-reactivity problems. The use of CDs or podcasts with frightening noises, paired with food, treats or other fun things can be a useful and effective longer-term approach to managing firework-fear through gradual <a href="https://www.veterinary-practice.com/article/desensitisation-and-counter-conditioning">counter-conditioning and desensitisation</a>. </p>
<p>This can also work for older animals as part of a managed training and support plan, often with the help of a suitably <a href="http://www.apbc.org.uk/">qualified behaviourist</a>.</p>
<p>Fireworks can be frightening for our pets. But with a few practical steps, you can help to make it a little less stressful, both now and in years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Boyd is affiliated with The Kennel Club (UK) through membership, as Chair of the Activities Health and Welfare Subgroup, member of the Dog Health Group and Chair of the Heelwork to Music Working Party. Jacqueline also writes, consults and coaches on canine matters on an independent basis.</span></em></p>Fireworks can be frightening to pets: here’s how to help them stay calm and happy.Jacqueline Boyd, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1682882021-10-21T01:00:57Z2021-10-21T01:00:57ZDon’t underestimate rabbits: these powerful pests threaten more native wildlife than cats or foxes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427443/original/file-20211020-20-1igkl3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C40%2C3847%2C2543&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In inland Australia, rabbits have taken a severe toll on native wildlife since they were <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/rabbits-introduced">introduced in 1859</a>. They may be small, but today rabbits are a key threat to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/pc18024">322 species</a> of Australia’s at-risk plants and animals — more than twice the number of species threatened by cats or foxes. </p>
<p>For example, research shows even just one rabbit in two hectares of land can solely destroy <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1988.tb01414.x">every regenerating sheoak seedling</a>. Rabbits are also responsible for the historic declines of the iconic <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/AM15046">southern hairy-nosed wombat</a> and red kangaroo.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/rec.13552">Our latest research</a> looked at the conservation benefits following the introduction of three separate <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-biocontrol-fights-invasive-species-31298">biocontrols</a> used to manage rabbits in Australia over the 20th Century — all three were stunningly successful and resulted in enormous benefits to conservation. </p>
<p>But today, rabbits are commonly <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/rj/rj16047">ignored or underestimated</a>, and aren’t given appropriate attention in conservation compared to introduced predators like cats and foxes. This needs to change.</p>
<h2>Why rabbits are such a serious problem</h2>
<p>Simply put, rabbits are a major problem for Australian ecosystems because they destroy huge numbers of critical regenerating seedlings over more than half the continent. </p>
<p>Rabbits can <a href="https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=AV20120153810">prevent</a> the long-term <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-72446-9_9">regeneration</a> of trees and shrubs by continually eating young seedlings. This keeps ecosystems from ever reaching their natural, pre-rabbit forms. This has immense flow-on effects for the availability of food for plant-eating animals, for insect abundance, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-4877.2008.00078.x">shelter</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13065">predation</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427455/original/file-20211020-26249-1im7uvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grazing competition from rabbits has been attributed to the decline of southern hairy-nosed wombats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Taggart</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In some ecosystems, rabbits have prevented the regeneration of plant communities for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3543436?origin=crossref">130 years</a>, resulting in shrub populations of only old, scattered individuals. These prolonged impacts may undermine <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12880">the long-term success</a> of conservation programs to reintroduce mammals to the wild.</p>
<p>Things are particularly dire in arid Australia where, in drought years, rabbits can eat a high proportion of the vegetation that grows, leaving little food for native animals. Arid vegetation is slow growing and doesn’t regenerate often as rainfall is infrequent. This means rabbits can have a severe toll on wildlife by swiftly eating young trees and shrubs soon after they emerge from the ground. </p>
<p>Rabbits eat a high proportion of regenerating vegetation even when their population is at <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/bt15208">nearly undetectable levels</a>. For example, it took the complete eradication of rabbits from the semi-arid TGB Osborn reserve in South Australia, before <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/BT/BT04144">most tree and shrub</a> species could regenerate. </p>
<p>Rabbits also <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC090158">spread weeds</a>, cause soil erosion and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420309252?via%3Dihub">reduce the ability of soil</a> to absorb moisture and support vegetation growth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427414/original/file-20211020-15-1cg2367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabbits spread weeds and eat seedlings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If you control prey, you control predators</h2>
<p>When restoring ecosystems, particularly in arid Australia, it’s common for land managers to heavily focus on managing predators such as cats and foxes, while ignoring rabbits. While predator management is important, neglecting rabbit control may mean Australia’s unique fauna is still destined to decline.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00378734">Cats</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00319021">foxes</a> eat a lot of rabbits in arid Australia and can limit their populations when rabbit numbers are low. A common argument <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jbi.12469">against rabbit control</a> is that cats and foxes will turn to eating native species in the absence of rabbits. But this argument is unfounded. </p>
<p>Cats and foxes may turn from rabbits to native species in the immediate short-term. But, research has also shown fewer rabbits ultimately lead to declines in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-019-02131-5">cat</a> <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/wr00101">and</a> <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/WR99065">fox</a> numbers, as the cats and foxes are starved of their major food source. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427441/original/file-20211020-21-3tskzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Culling rabbits starves feral predators of their major food source.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Regrowth could be seen from space</h2>
<p>An effective way to deal with rabbits is to release biocontrol agents - natural enemies of rabbits, such as viruses or parasites. Our research reviewed the effects of rolling out three different biocontrols last century:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>myxomatosis (an infectious rabbit disease), released in 1950 </p></li>
<li><p>European rabbit fleas (as a vector of myxomatosis), released in 1968 </p></li>
<li><p>rabbit haemorrhagic disease, released in 1995. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Each lead to unprecedented reductions in the number of rabbits across Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427643/original/file-20211020-16-2wsx08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabbits eventually built up a tolerance to biocontrols.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the minor interest in conservation at the time, the spread of myxomatosis led to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1988.tb01414.x">widespread regeneration in sheoaks</a> for over five years, before rabbit numbers built back up. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352249617300319">Red kangaroo populations</a> increased so much that landholders were suddenly “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48116423?searchTerm=Pests%20follow%20the%20rain%20in%20N-E%20drought#">involved in a shooting war with hordes of kangaroos invading their properties</a>”, according to a newspaper report at the time. </p>
<p>Following the introduction of the European rabbit flea, <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1338918">native grasses</a> became prolific along the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia. Similarly, southern hairy-nosed wombats and <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/am19037">swamp wallabies</a> expanded their ranges.</p>
<p>By the time rabbit haemorrhagic disease was introduced in 1995, interest in conservation and the environment had grown and conservation benefits were better recorded.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/6508/">Native vegetation</a> <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/bt15208">regenerated</a> over enormous spans of land, including native pine, needle bush, umbrella wattle, witchetty bush and twin-leaved emu bush. This regeneration was so significant across large parts of the Simpson and Strzelecki Deserts, it could be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0034425717302171">seen from space</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427404/original/file-20211020-20-1bfrfzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When rabbits were controlled, the number of red kangaroos doubled.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-72446-9_19">Red kangaroos</a> became two to three times more abundant, and <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12684">multiple species of desert rodent and a small marsupial carnivore</a> (dusky hopping mouse, spinifex hopping mouse, plains rat, crest-tailed mulgara) all expanded their ranges.</p>
<p>But each time, after 10 to 20 years, the biocontrols stop working so well, as rabbits eventually built up a tolerance to the diseases. </p>
<h2>So what should we do today?</h2>
<p>Today, there are an estimated <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/rabbits-introduced">150-200 million rabbits</a> in Australia, we need to be on the front foot to manage this crisis. This means researchers should continually develop new biocontrols — which are clearly astonishingly successful.</p>
<p>But this isn’t the only solution. The use of biocontrols must be integrated with conventional rabbit management techniques, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/WR09103">including destroying</a> warrens (burrow networks) and harbours (above-ground rabbit shelters), baiting, fumigation, shooting or trapping.</p>
<p>Land managers have a major part to play in restoring Australia’s arid ecosystems, too. Land managers are required by law to control invasive pests such as rabbits, and this must occur humanely using approved and recognised methods. </p>
<p>They, and researchers, must take rabbit management seriously and give it equal, if not more, attention than feral cats and foxes. It all starts with a greater awareness of the problem, so we stop underestimating these small, but powerful, pests. </p>
<p><em>The authors would like to acknowledge the significant contribution of Dr Graeme Finlayson from Bush Heritage Australia, who is the lead author of the published study.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pat Taggart works for the Department of Primary Industries NSW. He receives funding from the Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment, and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Cooke is an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canberra. He previously worked for the South Australian Government and CSIRO on biological control of rabbits. He is affiliated with Rabbit Free Australia. </span></em></p>Rabbits destroy huge numbers of critical regenerating seedlings over more than half the continent. This has devastating flow-on effects for the rest of the ecosystem. So how do we control them?Pat Taggart, Adjunct Fellow, UNSW SydneyBrian Cooke, Adjunct Associate Professor, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1503742021-01-04T19:10:47Z2021-01-04T19:10:47ZCurious Kids: how can we tell if an animal is happy without a wagging tail?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376926/original/file-20210103-21-liwhav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C10%2C3578%2C2382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>How do we know when animals who don’t have tails are happy? — Goldie Rose, aged 5.</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<p>Great question Goldie! Animals use their tails for steering, holding, balancing and swimming, but they also use them as a way to talk to each other. A dog wagging its tail is one example, and we usually read a waggy tail as a sign that a dog is happy. </p>
<p>But that’s not the only way dogs can show they’re happy, and there are lots of animals that don’t have tails or don’t use them to talk to each other. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/byDZTO1aNkQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A loose, waggy tail is usually a sign that a dog is happy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So how can we tell if an animal is happy without a wagging tail?</p>
<p>Different animals have different ways of showing they’re happy, so it helps to know about the animal you’re interested in. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-dog-happy-ten-common-misconceptions-about-dog-behaviour-97541">Is your dog happy? Ten common misconceptions about dog behaviour</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, cats purr when they’re happy (although some cats also purr when they are in pain). Guinea pigs whistle when they are excited and purr when they are content. Rabbits twitch their noses when they are content and they also can make a purring sound by grinding their teeth. This usually means they are happy, but like cats, sometimes they do it loudly when they are in pain. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Girl pats brown horse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376929/original/file-20210103-13-q1y86a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When a horse is happy, it’ll point its ears towards you.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ferrets chirp when they are happy and excited, horses will point their ears towards you and have a relaxed mouth, and parrots sing, whistle or make a grinding, purring sound with their beak when they are content. </p>
<p>So, there are a lot of different ways animals can show they are happy, but sometimes they do the same thing when they are in pain. How confusing! </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kangaroo lying in the sun." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376931/original/file-20210103-13-1bpky9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If an animal does an activity over and over again, like basking in the sun, then it’s probably happy doing it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Often we can get a good idea if they are happy or unhappy by looking at how they are behaving in general. </p>
<p>A cat that purrs because it’s happy may also be winding her body around your legs, or relaxed in your lap, have her tail high in the air, or roll over on her back. All this shows she is trusting and interested. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-let-them-out-15-ways-to-keep-your-indoor-cat-happy-138716">Don't let them out: 15 ways to keep your indoor cat happy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Likewise, a rabbit grinding its teeth while relaxing will also likely be stretching its body out as well. You can tell how relaxed a rabbit is by how stretched out it is while resting. If a rabbit is in pain, it tends to hunch up and squeeze its eyes half shut like it is wincing. Animals that are relaxed and not tense are usually happy and content.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LEVEd8_maeA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A rabbit can ‘binky’ when it’s happy. This is when it hops into the air and twists before landing.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can also get an idea of how happy an animal is by what they do. Play is one of the most reliable ways to tell if an animal is happy, as only happy animals play. Happy, playful animals will jump into the air, pounce, kick their feet up while they run, and generally be more energetic than they need to be. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-things-we-do-that-puzzle-and-scare-horses-143675">10 things we do that puzzle and scare horses</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Lastly, we can see what animals like to do by what they choose to come back to over and over again. If your animal chooses to lie in the sun or look for tasty treats or dig holes, then you know when they are doing that, they are probably happy. </p>
<p>So, to know when an animal is happy, we need to look at more than what one body part is doing, and we might need to watch them to get to know them. </p>
<p>To be a good friend for our animals, we should give them the freedom to choose their own activities, and that will show us what they like. Happy animal-watching!</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Starling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Different animals have different ways of showing they’re happy. Their behaviours aren’t as straightforward as you might think.Melissa Starling, Postdoctoral researcher, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1360952020-05-11T11:51:20Z2020-05-11T11:51:20ZYou’re not going far from home – and neither are the animals you spy out your window<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333732/original/file-20200508-49569-1qndzcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1109%2C1064%2C4186%2C2907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is it that same busy squirrel you're watching every day?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Avery</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Watching the wildlife outside your window can <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10030913">boost your mental well-being</a>, and it’s something lots of people have been doing a lot more of lately.</p>
<p>Maybe you’ve been wondering if you’re seeing one persistent gray squirrel or a rotating cast of furry characters. Maybe you’ve been thinking about which birds are passing through for the season and which are townies who stick around all year.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uYWmAHMAAAAJ&hl=en">As a wildlife ecologist</a>, I’ve learned to pay attention to patterns that show me what the animals outside my window are up to, and I usually know which individuals are my regulars.</p>
<p>Whether you’re spying on animals in a city, town or rural area, with a little background knowledge, you too can keep tabs on the private lives of your neighborhood critters.</p>
<h2>Seasonal shifts change the players</h2>
<p>For many species, winter is a time when individuals compete less with one another and gather in large groups.</p>
<p>For example, eastern cottontail rabbits congregate around areas with <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/wild-mammals-north-america">plenty of food and places to escape to</a>. Birds form large mixed-species flocks, which helps them better find food and avoid being hunted. They even form temporary allegiances as they forage together, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/670548">following specific individuals</a> who help determine where the flock goes.</p>
<figure>
<img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/1027/whtspa-abundance-map-weekly-2019-760-4fps.gif?1588599297">
<figcaption><span class="caption">Seasonal migration means the abundance of particular species in one location can change over the course of the year. <i>Courtesy eBird.org (https://ebird.org/science/status-and-trends/whtspa/abundance-map-weekly)</i></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the season changes to spring, migratory species start arriving. A steady parade of individuals moves through the neighborhood. As animals transition to their breeding season, plumage and appearances may change as they work to attract mates. For many species, <a href="https://www.sibleyguides.com/about/the-sibley-guide-to-bird-life-behavior/">defense of a piece of land</a> becomes an overriding concern.</p>
<p>During the summer months, adult animal numbers stabilize, and the drive to establish a territory means you’re likely to have the same individuals active outside your windows for the majority of summer.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333489/original/file-20200507-49556-1kpi6se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This white-throated sparrow is molting into breeding plumage before heading on to summer grounds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B_YBazIADuM/">Julian Avery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Splitting up the neighborhood</h2>
<p>A territory is a chunk of habitat. Its size will vary depending on the amount of food and breeding resources it holds. A territory with few trees, for example, may need to be bigger to hold enough forage for the animal that owns the turf.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.08.023">Territory sizes for different species</a> can range from the size of a large kitchen table (common <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2007.04.001">lizards</a> like green anoles and skinks) to an area greater than 120 football fields (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1676/0043-5643(2000)112%5B0021:HRCOMC%5D2.0.CO;2">a raptor such as the Cooper’s hawk</a>). The cool thing is that <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/wild-mammals-north-america">animal home ranges</a> are governed by their own needs and often do not follow the lines of human fences and alleyways.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332882/original/file-20200505-83740-etd1qe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A territory map for anoles shows how these lizards each have their own home turf that can overlap with neighbors. Habitat in this case included individual trees and a fallen log toward the bottom of the map which offered basking and display space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WmrOSi4AAAAJ&hl=en">Jordan Bush</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I like to think of animal territories as quilts that drape over your neighborhood. For some species, like anoles, the squares in that quilt will have many small and intricate pieces, and you could fit many quilt pieces within each individual human property boundary. Some of those pieces will even overlap other patches.</p>
<p>Small songbirds will have quilt patches that span several human properties, though they may use specific parts more than others. Larger species will have quilt patches that cover entire neighborhoods with one territory.</p>
<h2>Frequently spotted</h2>
<p>If you’ve become familiar with the animals in your neighborhood, chances are you’ll see some of the same individuals again year after year. Eastern cottontails are likely to live <a href="http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Sylvilagus_floridanus/">up to three years in the wild</a>, and they <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1374932">stay in the same general territory</a> throughout their lives. Even the young have a tendency to stay close to their birth place.</p>
<p>Researchers have recaptured gray squirrels year after year in their original territories. On average, these critters survive about <a href="https://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/mammals/gray_squirrel.htm">six years and can live longer than 20</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B_tBzpJA5FI","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Birds also have long lives and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-048X.2011.05520.x">will often stay in the</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.5253/078.096.0211">same territory year after year</a>. However, when eggs don’t hatch or young die in the nest, some birds may choose a new territory the following year. This means there can be high turnover in your local bird network if the local habitat is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1650/CONDOR-16-72.1">unpredictable or full of urban predators</a>.</p>
<p>Birds that don’t migrate and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4163451">stay in residence year-round</a>, like chickadees, often have a tendency to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1939172">stay in the same area</a>, which means you’ll be seeing the same individual birds outside your window across seasons.</p>
<p>Some species will have territories that don’t overlap much at all. For others, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1381990">overlap can be extensive</a>.</p>
<p>This means that generally during the breeding season, you could be watching many gray squirrels visiting outside your window.</p>
<p>There may also be a couple of male cottontails, but probably a single female because they tend to not overlap with other females.</p>
<p>Maybe you’ll spy the same pair of cardinals along with a reliable pair of chickadees. If you’re watching closely like I was the other day, you may get lucky and catch another male cardinal from the territory next door trying to flirt with your female, at least until her mate realizes what’s about to happen. That is a clue to the invisible lines birds have drawn between their own domains.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333490/original/file-20200507-49573-yhrt4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plenty of anole territories can fit into one human-scaled backyard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BqJGf3TBM4c/">Julian Avery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to smaller animals, like lizards and insects, all bets are off for how many unique individuals are present outside your window. But you can expect more of everything as the number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.06.029">native plants</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1809259115">increases</a>.</p>
<h2>Tips for watching</h2>
<p>If you’re interested in trying to keep track of particular wildlife friends through the window, try to watch for identifying marks.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333486/original/file-20200507-49573-1im5u53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Natural markings like a torn ear can help you keep track of individuals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B_p-gZ0g0UG/">Julian Avery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-018-01693-5">In my research, I attach</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12236">colored bands to bird legs</a> or mark the scales of turtles and snakes so we can figure out how many exist in an area. Many animals have enough individual variation that you can keep track of them using their natural unique marks and scars. Squirrels can have torn ears or injured tails, lizards can have unique scars or healed injuries, and birds can have subtle differences in color or pattern.</p>
<p>Also try paying attention to the maximum number you see at any one point. Where do they go after eating or basking? You may get lucky and spy a nest or resting place. See if you can spot other individuals coming from different directions and territories.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333487/original/file-20200507-49579-119tf0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maybe you’ll notice animal families expanding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Avery</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At my house, we had a nest of rabbit kits born under our deck. I thought there was only one surviving newborn because we never saw more than one offspring. Two weeks later, there were three babies foraging simultaneously in the yard, and it became clear that they’d previously been taking turns coming out of hiding.</p>
<p>If you start watching closely, I think you’ll find so much drama happening in your neighborhood that you may get hooked on the action.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Avery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With careful observation, you can start to recognize that one sassy squirrel or the cardinal pair who call your neighborhood home.Julian Avery, Assistant Research Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1156472019-04-25T09:56:34Z2019-04-25T09:56:34ZPets: is it ethical to keep them?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270427/original/file-20190423-175524-1mk91r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to the UK veterinary charity The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), <a href="https://www.pdsa.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns/pdsa-animal-wellbeing-report/uk-pet-populations-of-dogs-cats-and-rabbits">half of Britons own a pet</a>. Many of these owners view the 11.1m cats, 8.9m dogs, and 1m rabbits sharing their homes as family members. But although we love them, care for them, celebrate their birthdays and mourn them when they pass, is it ethical to keep pets in the first place? Some animal rights activists and ethicists, myself included, would argue that it is not. </p>
<p>The institution of pet-keeping is fundamentally unjust as it involves the manipulation of animals’ bodies, behaviours and emotional lives. For centuries, companion animal’s bodies (particularly dogs, horses and rabbits) have been shaped to suit human fashions and fancies. And this often causes these animals <a href="https://www.peta.org/issues/animal-companion-issues/pet-trade/breeders/">considerable physical harm</a>. </p>
<p>Particular breeds, for instance, are highly susceptible to painful and frequently fatal genetic defects. Highly prized physical features – such as small and large stature or pushed-in noses – can cause discomfort and difficulty in breathing, birthing and other normal functions.</p>
<p>Even those animals who are not purpose-bred often face bodily manipulations which impede their comfort and safety. This can include confining clothing, painful leashes that pull at the throat, docked tails and ears, and <a href="https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/declawing-cats-far-worse-manicure">declawing</a>, which involves the severing of the first digit of each toe in cats. Pets are also often constrained in their daily movements, sometimes crated or caged, and regularly kept indoors – always at the whim of their human owners. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270430/original/file-20190423-175507-16b15zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270430/original/file-20190423-175507-16b15zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270430/original/file-20190423-175507-16b15zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270430/original/file-20190423-175507-16b15zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270430/original/file-20190423-175507-16b15zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270430/original/file-20190423-175507-16b15zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270430/original/file-20190423-175507-16b15zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Making the case against pets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pets also symbolically reinforce the notion that vulnerable groups can be owned and fully controlled for the pleasure and convenience of more privileged and powerful groups. And this has implications for vulnerable human groups. For instance, sexism is partially maintained by treating women linguistically as pets – “kitten”, “bunny” – and physically by confining them to the home to please and serve the family patriarch. </p>
<p>Social workers further recognise the powerful link between <a href="https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/research-reports/understanding-links-child-abuse-animal-abuse-domestic-violence.pdf">pet abuse and the abuse of children and women</a> in domestic settings. The idea that it is acceptable to manipulate the bodies and minds of a vulnerable group to suit the interests of more privileged groups is consistent with the cultural logic of oppression. </p>
<h2>Cannot consent</h2>
<p>Through this forced dependency and domestication, the lives of companion animals are almost completely controlled by humans. They can be terminated at any time for the most trivial of reasons – including behavioural “problems”, for belonging to a stereotyped breed, or the owner’s inability (or unwillingness) to pay for veterinary treatment.</p>
<p>In the mid 20th century, sociologist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erving-Goffman">Erving Goffman</a> introduced the concept of a “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20009046">total institution</a>”. This sees inhabitants cut off from wider society under a single authority in an enclosed social space. Natural barriers between social spheres are artificially eliminated and an intense socialisation process takes place to ensure that inmates conform. </p>
<p>Sociologists typically study prisons, asylums and other physical spaces as examples. But I believe pet-keeping constitutes a sort of dispersed “total institution”. This is because nonhuman animals are unnaturally forced under human authority, restrained, and re-socialised. True consent is not possible under such conditions. Animals are groomed to participate and those who are unable to follow the rules of human social life are likely to be punished – sometimes fatally. </p>
<p>This is not in any way to suggest that dogs, cats and other species cannot express love and happiness as “pets”. But it is important to recognise that their complacency within the institution of pet-keeping is entirely manufactured (sometimes quite cruelly) by humans through behaviour “corrections” and the manipulative process of domestication itself.</p>
<h2>A world without pets?</h2>
<p>Some companion animal advocates, such as Nathan Winograd, the director of the US based <a href="https://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/">No Kill Advocacy Center</a>, argue that to stop keeping pets altogether would be a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542725216/">violation of nonhuman animals’ right to exist</a>. Winograd believes the widespread killing of healthy companion animals can be curbed through a <a href="https://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/statistics.html">restructuring of the sheltering industry</a>. He rejects the need to end pet-keeping given the abundance of humanity’s capacity for compassion and adoption. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270433/original/file-20190423-175518-q05xxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270433/original/file-20190423-175518-q05xxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270433/original/file-20190423-175518-q05xxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270433/original/file-20190423-175518-q05xxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270433/original/file-20190423-175518-q05xxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270433/original/file-20190423-175518-q05xxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270433/original/file-20190423-175518-q05xxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">By adopting a pet from a rescue centre, you can give an animal another chance at life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Winograd’s pro-pet position reflects the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/killing-animals-petas-open-secret_b_59e78243e4b0e60c4aa36711">No Kill movement’s strong disapproval</a> of some animal rights organisations, which frequently support “euthanasia” policies to curb pet populations. But if a no kill society were to be achieved, many of the ethical violations – bodily manipulation, non-consensual confinement, enforced dependency, and vulnerability to human abuse – would remain. Even if, as Winograd supposes, an increase in legal protections could be obtained to improve domestic animal’s standards of living.</p>
<p>Ultimately, companion animals, by their very position in the social order, are not and cannot be equals. The institution of pet-keeping maintains a social hierarchy which privileges humans and positions all others as objects of lower importance – whose right to existence depends wholly on their potential to benefit humans. That said, the population of dogs, cats, rabbits and other domesticated “pet” animals currently rivals that of humans such that they are likely to remain a consistent feature of human social life. </p>
<p>And while it may not be ethical to pursue the future breeding of nonhuman animals for comfort, humans do have a duty to serve, protect and care for them. Recognising the inherent inequality in human and nonhuman relations will be vital in making the best of an imperfect situation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corey Lee Wrenn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The institution of pet-keeping is fundamentally unjust as it involves the manipulation of animals’ bodies, behaviours and emotional lives.Corey Lee Wrenn, Lecturer of Sociology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/970782018-07-23T06:39:05Z2018-07-23T06:39:05ZA numbers game: killing rabbits to conserve native mammals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226825/original/file-20180709-122262-6ap5ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Controlling rabbit populations has a key role in conserving Australia's native plants and animals </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/">William Booth</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Invasive species have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-predators-are-eating-the-worlds-animals-to-extinction-and-the-worst-is-close-to-home-64741">devastating effect</a> on biodiversity. In Australia, introduced red foxes and feral cats have been implicated in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/15/4531">majority of the extinctions</a> of the native mammal fauna, which has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/mourn-our-lost-mammals-while-helping-the-survivors-battle-back-36126">decimated since European arrival</a>.</p>
<p>But there’s a herbivore that also causes <a href="https://www.pestsmart.org.au/managing-vertebrate-pests-rabbits/">eco-catastrophe</a>. Rabbits both compete with native animals for food and shelter and act as easy prey for abundant populations of cats and foxes. By over-grazing vegetation and reducing habitat complexity, they make hunting easier for introduced predators. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-predators-are-eating-the-worlds-animals-to-extinction-and-the-worst-is-close-to-home-64741">Invasive predators are eating the world's animals to extinction – and the worst is close to home</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/food-web-concept-and-applications-84077181">Food webs</a> are complex. Because of this, once an invasive species is embedded in a food web, simply eradicating them without considering the potential knock-on effects to other species they interact with, could cause unintended and undesirable consequences. We modelled different rates of rabbit population reduction to assess what level of control might be best for aiding the conservation of native mammals and not causing negative outcomes.</p>
<h2>Rabbit numbers boom and crash</h2>
<p>Rabbits, famously, reproduce rapidly and can cope with a relatively high predation rate. This can cause “<a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2656.2000.00383.x">hyper-predation</a>”, where rabbit-inflated cat and fox populations indirectly increase the predation pressure on native mammals. This is especially so when rabbit populations intermittently crash due to, for example, extreme environmental events (like severe and prolonged droughts) or disease. This causes predators to switch their diet and eat more native mammals.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227067/original/file-20180711-27018-h6eo56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227067/original/file-20180711-27018-h6eo56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227067/original/file-20180711-27018-h6eo56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227067/original/file-20180711-27018-h6eo56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227067/original/file-20180711-27018-h6eo56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227067/original/file-20180711-27018-h6eo56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227067/original/file-20180711-27018-h6eo56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Threatened species such as the greater bilby are likely to benefit from rabbit control.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jasmine Vink</span></span>
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<p>This logically suggests that reducing rabbit numbers might thus help reduce cat and fox populations, by removing their abundant prey. Collectively this should benefit native plants and animals, including many threatened mammal species. However, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01673.x">ecosystem</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/conl.12251">pest management is a complex game</a>. </p>
<p>When controlling rabbits we need to look beyond one or two species. We should consider the potential consequences for the entire ecological community, which ultimately depend on how changes in one species percolate through the network of ecological interactions between them. </p>
<p>Our new research, recently published in the <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.13188">Journal of Applied Ecology</a>, set out to examine these questions in more detail. We consider other key players in Australia’s arid regions, such as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20976.x">kangaroos</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x">dingoes</a>, when looking at the effects of rabbit control on small native mammals. Our aim was to provide a better understanding of how changes in rabbit populations might affect other species via the food web. </p>
<p>We developed a multi-species ecological network model to describe and quantify how changing rabbit abundance can affect species on different feeding levels. In addition to rabbits, small native mammals, and mesopredators (cats and foxes), our model also considers apex predators (dingo) and large herbivores (kangaroo) as part of the Australian arid food web. This model allowed us to examine changes in predator-prey interactions (including potential prey switching and hyper-predation) and how these could affect the survival of native prey through time.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226812/original/file-20180709-122280-q2y2qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226812/original/file-20180709-122280-q2y2qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226812/original/file-20180709-122280-q2y2qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226812/original/file-20180709-122280-q2y2qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226812/original/file-20180709-122280-q2y2qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226812/original/file-20180709-122280-q2y2qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226812/original/file-20180709-122280-q2y2qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Our model of an Australian arid ecosystem food web.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>We found that removing rabbits at rates between 30-40% appeared to benefit small mammals. This is approximately the rate at which rabbits are currently managed in Australia using <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12871">biocontrol agents</a> (introduced diseases). </p>
<p>Rabbit control in Australia typically involves a “press and pulse” approach. Rabbit populations are suppressed via biocontrol (press) and periods of warren destruction and poisoning (pulse). Finding that reducing rabbit populations by around 40% seems most beneficial to small mammals is important, as it informs how and when we combine these strategies. </p>
<p>The 40% rate <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2011.02354.x">corresponds well</a> with the disease-induced (press) mortality rate in rabbit populations due to rabbit haemorrhagic disease and myxomatosis. These are the primary biocontrol agents used in arid Australia to control rabbit populations. </p>
<p>Our study supports rabbit-reduction strategies that involve sustained “press” control, that kill a moderate portion of a rabbit population, with less frequent removal at higher proportions of the population. </p>
<p>To effectively manage invasive species, it’s important to focus on entire communities. Targeting single species might not be enough – every animal exists within a complex web of interactions. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mourn-our-lost-mammals-while-helping-the-survivors-battle-back-36126">Mourn our lost mammals, while helping the survivors battle back</a>
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<p>There has been much focus by the current government on <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12080">controlling feral cats</a>, as a way to conserve many of Australia’s unique and threatened mammal species. </p>
<p>However, more focus could be devoted to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715002086?via%3Dihub">protecting habitat cover and complexity</a>, by reducing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-a-global-top-ten-deforester-and-queensland-is-leading-the-way-87259">land clearing</a> and over-grazing that makes hunting easier. We can also manage rabbits sensibly to reduce competition for resources, and indirectly control cats and foxes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council, The Australia and Pacific Science Foundation, The Hermon Slade Foundation, Australian Geographic, and Parks Victoria. Euan Ritchie is a Director (Media Working Group) of the Ecological Society of Australia, and a member of the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien Fordham receives funding from the Australian Research Council </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miguel Lurgi receives funding from the French ANR through LabEx TULIP, the French Midi-Pyrénées region, and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.</span></em></p>Managing rabbit populations isn’t as simple as declaring ‘open season’.Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityDamien Fordham, University of AdelaideMiguel Lurgi, Postdoctoral research fellow, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/979302018-06-27T03:53:26Z2018-06-27T03:53:26ZTandem virus cocktail kills pest rabbits more effectively<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222118/original/file-20180607-137285-18mv80r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tagged European rabbit kitten infected with myxoma virus, but that died from rabbit haemorrhagic virus disease (RHDV).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by David Peacock, Biosecurity South Australia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Farmers, landowners and conservationists across Australia are benefiting from an unexpected, combined effect of two biological controls that target feral populations of European rabbits (<em>Oryctolagus cuniculus</em>), according to our research, <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2664.13187">published in the Journal of Applied Ecology</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-biocontrol-fights-invasive-species-31298">Explainer: how 'biocontrol' fights invasive species</a>
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<p>Pest rabbits cost the Australian economy over <a href="https://www.pestsmart.org.au/the-economic-impacts-of-vertebrate-pests-in-australia/">A$200 million each year</a> in lost production, and millions more in pest control. They compete with livestock for food and cause enormous environmental damage.</p>
<p>Rabbits previously reached <a href="http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/182/20/571">plague numbers</a> in much of agricultural and outback Australia, until the introduction of two rabbit-specific viruses and insect vectors. </p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxomatosis">Myxoma virus</a> was first introduced in 1950, followed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spilopsyllus_cuniculi">European rabbit fleas</a> in the 1960s to help spread the virus, and then <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/pdf/ZO9900527">Spanish rabbit fleas</a> in the 1990s to increase spread into arid areas. </p>
<p>Then, in 1995, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_haemorrhagic_disease">rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus</a> (RHDV) escaped from quarantine, before an official release in 1996. These biocontrols have reduced rabbit numbers by an estimated 75-80% (see references in <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2664.13187">our paper</a>) in South Australia alone since the 1950s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222126/original/file-20180607-137298-14yul0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rabbits around a waterhole at the myxomatosis trial enclosure on Wardang Island in 1938.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Archives of Australia/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>Together, myxoma virus and RHDV saved the Australian economy an estimated <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aehr.12000">A$70 billion by 2011</a>. </p>
<p>But managing rabbits’ growing immunity to these virus biocontrol agents is now presenting new challenges for Australian land managers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/controlling-rabbits-lets-not-get-addicted-to-viral-solutions-5701">Controlling rabbits: let's not get addicted to viral solutions</a>
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<p>This is why our new discovery of a positive interaction between the two main viruses is great news for the Australian environment and economy.</p>
<p>Our study represents the first solid evidence that a combination of these two rabbit diseases is more effective in reducing rabbits’ abundance, providing agencies and landowners with more bang for their buck during rabbit control programs.</p>
<p>Our findings were made possible by one of the longest-running monitoring programs in disease ecology: the 21-year (and ongoing) <a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/34%C2%B033'11.4%22S+138%C2%B050'00.8%22E/@-34.5550462,138.831279,15.42z/data=!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x0:0x0!2zMzTCsDMzJzM3LjEiUyAxMzjCsDQ5JzIyLjUiRQ!3b1!8m2!3d-34.560301!4d138.822906!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d-34.5531742!4d138.8335568?">Turretfield</a> Rabbit Research Project north of Adelaide. </p>
<p>Roughly every two months for more than two decades, <a href="http://pir.sa.gov.au/biosecurity">PIRSA Biosecurity South Australia</a> has counted, tagged, virus-tested, and released rabbits of all ages from the isolated sentinel rabbit population.</p>
<p>Analysing this unrivalled dataset, we discovered that the probability of dying from rabbit haemorrhagic disease was 10% higher than expected when an individual rabbit had previously been exposed to myxoma virus. These means that rabbits that are now immune to the myxoma virus (Australia’s first rabbit biocontrol) are nevertheless more susceptible to RHDV (Australia’s second rabbit biocontrol). </p>
<p>In other words, the two diseases (a poxvirus and a calicivirus) interacted to give a population-level effect that resulted in more rabbit deaths overall.</p>
<p>Such an interaction between biocontrol agents is rare; in fact, it is the first discovery of its kind in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222137/original/file-20180607-137322-1ldnm9d.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tagged rabbit from Turretfield (photo taken September 8, 2014). This individual had no antibodies against RHDV or myxoma virus, but was found dead from haemorrhagic disease two hours later.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Peacock/Biosecurity SA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The knowledge that the two viruses combine as a potent weapon against rabbits has major implications for land owners and farmers around the world who battle pest rabbits. Disease outbreaks could potentially be timed to ensure that the death rate of pest rabbits is as high as possible. </p>
<p>In Australia, rabbits are a dietary mainstay for two other damaging invasive species: feral cats and red foxes. A large rabbit population can keep the two predator species at high densities, thus promoting their high predation rates on native wildlife. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-predators-are-eating-the-worlds-animals-to-extinction-and-the-worst-is-close-to-home-64741">Invasive predators are eating the world's animals to extinction – and the worst is close to home</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Keeping rabbit numbers low can therefore benefit our environment. In fact, the rate of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425717302171">native vegetation cover has increased</a> since RHDV began to spread in 1995, and there have been documented <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cobi.12684">increases in the numbers of small native mammal species</a> since that time.</p>
<p>Ecologically informed biocontrol is therefore just another smart way to manage invasive species.</p>
<p>Our discovery also has implications right across the world. European rabbits cause environmental and agricultural damage in places as diverse as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and in parts of South America.</p>
<p>Our findings will also help researchers and conservationists to safeguard the rabbit in its natural range in Europe, and support Australia’s search for other biocontrols in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corey Bradshaw receives funding from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (via Biosecurity South Australia), the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (South Australia), Foundation for Rabbit Free Australia, and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Barnett receives funding from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (via Biosecurity South Australia), the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (South Australia), and the Foundation for Rabbit Free Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Prowse receives funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.</span></em></p>Feral rabbits previously exposed to myxoma virus are more likely to be killed by rabbit haemorrhagic diease, meaning that these two biocontrol agents can become even more powerful when used in tandem.Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology, Flinders UniversityLouise Barnett, Adjunct researcher, Flinders UniversityThomas Prowse, Postdoctoral research fellow, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/805342017-07-10T23:46:13Z2017-07-10T23:46:13ZAnimal emotions stare us in the face — are our pets happy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177446/original/file-20170709-14908-utpt9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=130%2C4%2C2856%2C2074&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tabatha Bundesen's pet Tardar Sauce became an Internet sensation known as "Grumpy Cat" for a resting facial appearance that resembles a look of dissatisfaction. Now, scientists are starting to be able to read animal emotions from their expressions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/cpimages_details.pop.fwx?position=5&archiveType=ImageFolder&sorting=ModifiedTimeAsc&search=grumpy%20and%20cat&fileId=7ED4E565C8CEED27AEA6EAB315B987A8EB1B023AB80A6779EEECB0F082709652BF4B180AE6F446F48ACB7DB1B8CDE7E37BF497D18515FAB7978750CE214B0837D1853405FB9357B8D2D38EA4AF756B35591C2A1ED75B0C1C8263BC53D42B3063E297922C28FCC5CFEB24C714341D040567C393E3A4F903B8FFD9EA1880EECDE5D4AFE96D7A3AFF38CCFCF9B6D113233831DFAC6A9AAA139C">(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientists are starting to be able to accurately read animal facial expressions and understand what they communicate.</p>
<p>Facial expressions project our internal emotions to the outside world. Reading other people’s faces comes naturally and automatically to most of us. Without your best friend saying a word, you know — by seeing the little wrinkles around her eyes, her rounded, raised cheeks and upturned lip corners — that she got that promotion she wanted. </p>
<p>What if we could just as easily read the faces of other living beings? Will there come a day when we can hold up a smart phone to our cat and know how he’s feeling?</p>
<p>Researchers are developing coding systems that enable them to objectively read animal facial expressions rather than inferring or guessing at their meaning. A coding system precisely describes how different facial features change when an animal feels a particular emotion, such as squinting an eye or pursing lips. By looking at photographs and scoring how much each of these features or “action units” change, we can determine how strongly an emotion is felt.</p>
<h2>Pain recognition first frontier</h2>
<p>So far, only pain coding systems (grimace scales) for non-primate animals have been scientifically developed. Despite their different anatomy; <a href="https://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v7/n6/full/nmeth.1455.html">mice</a>, <a href="https://molecularpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1744-8069-7-55">rats</a>, <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0044437">rabbits</a>, <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0092281">horses</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159116000101">sheep</a> (including <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635716302662">lambs</a>) all pull a similar pain-face. They tighten their eyes, bulge or flatten their cheeks, change the position of their ears and tense their mouths.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177343/original/file-20170707-18198-ecnud.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lambs are one of the animals that have been shown to grimace when in pain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2016.09.010">(Mirjam Guesgen)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The push to develop grimace scales has largely come from our desire and ethical duty to assess and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kris_Descovich/publication/313349990_Facial_expression_An_under-utilised_tool_for_the_assessment_of_welfare_in_mammals/links/589bfd7ba6fdcc7541743716/Facial-expression-An-under-utilised-tool-for-the-assessment-of-welfare-in-mammals.pdf">improve the welfare</a> of animals used in labs or for food products.</p>
<p>Ideally, we want a way to accurately and reliably know how an animal is feeling by simply looking at them, rather than by drawing blood for tests or monitoring heart rates. By knowing their emotional states, we can change help to reduce pain, boredom or fear and, ideally, <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/6/3/21">foster curiosity or joy</a>.</p>
<p>Animals, particularly social ones, may have evolved facial expressions for the same reason we did — <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/facial-expression-of-pain-an-evolutionary-account/F32F82D2FB5D9AF8980B16239B7EB994">to communicate with one another</a> or, in the case of dogs, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635713000326">with us</a>. </p>
<p>Particularly for prey animals, subtle cues that other members of their group (but not predators) can pick up on are useful for safety, for example. A pain behaviour cue may trigger help or comfort from other group members, or serve as a warning to stay away from the source of pain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177447/original/file-20170709-14908-khisqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177447/original/file-20170709-14908-khisqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177447/original/file-20170709-14908-khisqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177447/original/file-20170709-14908-khisqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177447/original/file-20170709-14908-khisqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177447/original/file-20170709-14908-khisqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177447/original/file-20170709-14908-khisqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A girl shares a moment with her dog at the 10th annual Dog Show in Beirut in June. We may be able to easily read dogs’ faces because they evolved alongside humans over 100,000 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/cpimages_details.pop.fwx?position=131&archiveType=ImageFolder&sorting=ModifiedTimeAsc&search=dog&fileId=7ED4E565C8CEED276553137C3F07278F0211563F5E7047DF3AAB663AE59BB0CF1642B0B80D34257E6710EC2568FB7698B59B4D70A14C35A5085499F7776FCE74F2B7765E8750034730859FC82D50AED991D2D934849019DFB3B41BCC634D8CD042F841C1FF39A6F82A1B1FF576DC98DFDFA8B4906E2B2637CA6ABE2F54441DF0E41DB96B4682A54674266B70D538C8384B7097AA1ED5BA40">(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If we can decipher grimacing, we should also, theoretically, be able to understand facial expressions for other emotions such as joy or sadness. We would also likely want to comprehend facial expressions for the animals closest to our hearts: our pets. </p>
<h2>Smart phone app for animal emotions</h2>
<p>One day, pet owners, farmhands or veterinarians could hold up a smart phone to a dog, sheep or cat and have an app tell them the specific emotion the animal is showing.</p>
<p>However, getting to an automated emotion-identification system requires many steps. The first is to define emotions in a testable, non-species-specific way.</p>
<p>The second is to gather descriptive baseline data about emotional expression in a controlled, experimental environment. One way to do this might be to put animals in situations that will elicit a particular emotion and see how their physiology, brain patterns, behaviour and faces change. Any changes would need to occur reliably enough that we could call them a facial expression.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177448/original/file-20170709-6227-12dknwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A device-linked smartphone app by Anicall of Japan purports to show a cat’s ‘feeling.’ Apps may one day interpret animal expressions into emotions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/cpimages_details.pop.fwx?position=138&archiveType=ImageFolder&sorting=ModifiedTimeAsc&search=cat&fileId=7ED4E565C8CEED276553137C3F07278F0211563F5E7047DF3AAB663AE59BB0CF1642B0B80D34257E6710EC2568FB7698B59B4D70A14C35A5085499F7776FCE74F2B7765E8750034730859FC82D50AED9FE59D2970D2E169702AF0483B6B5EB6C42F841C1FF39A6F82A1B1FF576DC98DFDFA8B4906E2B2637CA6ABE2F54441DF0E41DB96B4682A54674266B70D538C8384B7097AA1ED5BA40">(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We already have some hints to go on: <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0039280">Depressed horses</a> close their eyes, even when not resting. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030215003690">Fearful cows</a> lay their ears flat on their heads and open their eyes wide. <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0166446">Joyful rats</a> have pinker ears that point more forward and outward.</p>
<p>Once we have gathered this data, we would then need to turn that scientific information into an automated, technological system. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050915003786">The system</a> would have to be able to extract the key facial action units from an image and calculate how those features differ from a neutral baseline expression. </p>
<p>The system would also need to be able to deal with individual differences in facial features as well as subtle differences in how individuals express emotion. The process of feature extraction and calculation also becomes difficult or fails when a face is poorly lit, on an angle or partially covered.</p>
<p>While we are making <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167865517301083">progress in automated human facial expression identification</a>, we are still a long way off when it come to animals. A more realistic short-term goal would be to better understand which emotions non-human animals express and how. The answers could be staring us right in the face.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80534/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mirjam Guesgen* does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists are beginning to link animal facial expressions to emotions, making it possible for us to understand how they feel.Mirjam Guesgen*, Postdoctoral Fellow in Animal Welfare, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/402812015-04-16T13:36:35Z2015-04-16T13:36:35ZClimate change threatens more than two-thirds of rabbit species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78098/original/image-20150415-31694-tyeyu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You can't hide from global warming, Mr Wabbit.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/taylar/8931557754">Ingrid Taylar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Climate change will have major effects on the ecology and distribution of <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/53.full">many animal species</a>. Now new research suggests that rabbits will be particularly hard hit as climatic changes alter their habitat over the coming decades.</p>
<p>Rabbits, hares and pikas could become this century’s new climate migrants – with up to two-thirds of species forced to relocate. There are almost certainly going to be extinctions among some of the more sensitive and less adaptable species. </p>
<p>Rabbits and their relatives hares (referred to in North America as jackrabbits) and the lesser known pikas belong to a group of mammals known as lagomorphs – of which there are 87 species worldwide. </p>
<p>Lagomorphs are particularly interesting to ecologists – and those of my colleagues who work in <a href="http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/InstituteforGlobalFoodSecurity/">Global Food Security</a> – as they are a major human food resource, valued game species, agricultural pests, model lab animals and key elements in food webs. </p>
<p>You can find rabbits, hares and pikas almost everywhere, across a huge range of environmental conditions. They’re native to all continents except Antarctica, found from the equator to the Arctic, and from sea level to the very top of the Himalayas. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78103/original/image-20150415-31657-awzgfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mountain-dwelling pikas may look like hamsters, but they’re more closely related to rabbits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Collared_Pika_(6187105360).jpg">Jacob W. Frank</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A quarter of lagomorphs are already <a href="http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/who_we_are/ssc_specialist_groups_and_red_list_authorities_directory/mammals/lagomorph_specialist_group/">listed as threatened</a>, and 13 species are endangered or critically endangered. We were particularly interested in how predicted changes in climate would affect this already highly vulnerable group.</p>
<p>In our study, colleagues from Queen’s University Belfast and I collated all known records of lagomorph species worldwide. Environmental conditions such as temperature or rainfall were correlated with the sites where each species occurred to establish the suitable habitat within which each can persist. Widely accepted climate models of <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/sres/emission/index.php?idp=98">projected future conditions</a> were then used to extrapolate how suitable habitat would change.</p>
<p>The results, published in the open access scientific journal <a href="http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122267">PLOS ONE</a> suggest that two-thirds of all lagomorph species will be affected. Rabbits, hares and jackrabbits are likely to shift towards the poles with little change in the total size of their range – the geographical area in which the species can be found. </p>
<p>Pikas meanwhile, are likely to shift to ever higher altitudes as the lower slopes warm up leading to huge range declines. This is likely to lead to the extinction of some such as Kozlov’s Pika <em>Ochotona koslowi</em>, a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21395987">mysterious species</a> unique to China. </p>
<p>Of course the animals won’t just remain still while the climate changes around them – moving towards the poles or to higher ground is a standard strategy to track shifts in suitable habitat. Rabbits, hares and jackrabbits can move long distances and can potentially move to cooler conditions without losing too much of their range; the effects of such shifts on ecosystems are largely unknown but likely to cause significant disruption. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78109/original/image-20150415-31681-6fm6zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78109/original/image-20150415-31681-6fm6zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78109/original/image-20150415-31681-6fm6zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78109/original/image-20150415-31681-6fm6zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78109/original/image-20150415-31681-6fm6zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78109/original/image-20150415-31681-6fm6zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78109/original/image-20150415-31681-6fm6zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You mean it’s getting even hotter? I’m outta here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24874528@N04/7313055880">Airwolfhound</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The smaller and less bouncy pikas won’t be so lucky. Pikas inhabit generally cooler conditions in the high mountains of the Himalayas or Rockies and will be driven further upwards until no suitable habitat remains. My colleague Neil Reid, a conservation biologist and lagomorph expert at Queen’s, points out that “they will likely be pushed off the top of the mountains, literally, with total extinction the most probable outcome”.</p>
<p>Species traits can be useful indicators of potential responses to climate change, yet have rarely been linked to changes in distributions. Smaller-bodied species were more likely to exhibit range contractions and shifts to higher ground, but species capable of having large numbers of offspring were more likely to shift towards the poles. </p>
<p>The effect of climate change on lagomorphs is predicted to be so substantial that almost a third of the Earth’s land area (31.5 million km<sup>2</sup>) will lose at least one species by 2100. It is predicted that northern China will lose up to ten species, whereas Montana and North Dakota in North America are likely to gain up to five species – climate rabbit refugees perhaps, fleeing the ever-warming southern states and Mexico. Generally, species on islands and mountains will be the hardest hit by changing temperatures. </p>
<p>However predictive models are simplified versions of reality and as such are rough approximations of what seems likely to happen. Those we used did not account for the complexity of ecological systems, such as how species – like plants or predators – interact with lagomorphs. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78106/original/image-20150415-31660-ik7h1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78106/original/image-20150415-31660-ik7h1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78106/original/image-20150415-31660-ik7h1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78106/original/image-20150415-31660-ik7h1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78106/original/image-20150415-31660-ik7h1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78106/original/image-20150415-31660-ik7h1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78106/original/image-20150415-31660-ik7h1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">That heat won’t shed itself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JackRabitt,OldFtBliss.JPG">Ancheta Wis</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, small burrowing species such as the Pygmy rabbit <em>Brachylagus idahoensis</em> may be able to shelter from the effects of climate change, while larger species like the European hare <em>Lepus europaeus</em> may have to adapt to mitigate the effects of warming temperatures – for example in the way that the Antelope jackrabbit <em>Lepus alleni</em> uses its long ears to shed excess heat. </p>
<p>So we have to be careful in the interpretation of our models – but the consistency of the results across all lagomorph species does not paint a good picture of the future for the group.</p>
<p>Conservation strategies, such as <a href="http://cakex.org/sites/default/files/A%20Framework%20for%20Debate%20of%20Assisted%20Migration%20in%20an.pdf">assisted migration</a> – where humans deliberately move species to areas of more suitable conditions, pre-empting future changes – may be one of the few options to save highly range-restricted species, even if it is <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534709000767">highly controversial</a>. </p>
<p>Collection of more species records, particularly for already rare species, as well as targeting data-deficient geographic regions (such as Russia) will be vital in increasing our knowledge of the most threatened lagomorphs and informing future conservation management.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Leach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rabbits and hares will flee towards the poles as global warming changes the places they once called home.Katie Leach, PhD student in Ecology, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/355442014-12-21T18:51:19Z2014-12-21T18:51:19ZThe rabbits of Christmas past: a present that backfired for Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67628/original/image-20141218-31031-feq4o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rabbits can strip grasslands bare and chew through young woody trees. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/john-schilling/362353970">John Schilling/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Christmas Day 1859, the Victoria Acclimatisation Society released 24 rabbits for hunting, to help settlers feel more at home. </p>
<p>Given the millions of dollars in damage to agricultural productivity that ensued, as well as the impacts on biodiversity as the rabbits bred and spread to cover <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/HerbivoreGreenhouse_BengsenCox.pdf">70% of the continent</a>, this could be seen as Australia’s worst Christmas present. </p>
<p>Now, given our current climate change commitments, controlling rabbits could be “Santa’s little helper” in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>In 2007, Australia committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to <a href="http://www.climatechange.gov.au/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-measurement-and-reporting/australias-emissions-projections/australias">at least 5% below 2000 levels</a>, by the year 2020. This commitment remains central to our climate change policy, and we should expect greater emissions reduction targets in future if we comply with the international target of limiting global warming to plus 2C.</p>
<h2>Storing carbon in the land</h2>
<p>There’s been plenty of talk of planting more trees. But <a href="http://nrmonline.nrm.gov.au/catalog/mql:3055">case studies </a> and evaluations of government programs <a href="http://nrmonline.nrm.gov.au/catalog/mql:66">such as Bushcare</a> show that this is an expensive way to re-vegetate. </p>
<p>Instead, many people now recognise there are <a href="http://theconversation.com/taking-stock-of-the-opportunities-and-risks-with-landscape-carbon-25664">better ways</a> to manage carbon across large areas. Livestock grazing and fire (such as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/savanna-burning-carbon-pays-for-conservation-in-northern-australia-12185">savanna burning</a>”) are often cited as important factors to manage and enhance carbon storage in plants and soils across vast areas. </p>
<p>Some significant gains might also be achieved by reducing the damage caused by some of our most serious pest animals.</p>
<h2>Eating us out of house, home and carbon</h2>
<p>Rabbits are well known for their ability to strip grasslands bare and destroy the seedlings of woody shrubs and trees. Even in low numbers, rabbits can completely prevent some important woody species from regenerating. </p>
<p>Mulga woodlands, for example, cover vast tracts of inland Australia, and mulga trees are likely to be a very important carbon store in these areas. However, rabbit numbers as low as <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/rabbits-and-native-plant-biodiversity/">one animal per hectare</a> can effectively stop the replacement of old trees by destroying seedlings. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67574/original/image-20141218-31052-emefto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Distribution of rabbits (orange, left) and mulga woodlands (green, right) across Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.feral.org.au/assessing-invasive-animals-in-australia-2008/">Rabbit data from West 2008.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently, Tarnya Cox and I <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/invasive-herbivore-control-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions/">reviewed</a> the potential benefits of controlling rabbits and other invasive herbivores for reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. We unearthed a multitude of similar stories about the extensive damage that rabbits can cause to vegetation and ecosystem function, and how that may affect the ability of these systems to capture and store carbon.</p>
<p>Importantly, much of the damage that rabbits cause to the environment can be reversed. </p>
<p>In many areas, Mulga and other species flourished for the <a href="http://www.ecosmagazine.com/?act=view_file&file_id=EC105p24.pdf">first time in 100 years</a> after rabbit numbers were reduced by up to 95% in the 1990s by rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (previously known as calicivirus). </p>
<p>Many <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/HerbivoreGreenhouse_BengsenCox.pdf">other studies</a> have also found sudden increases in plant growth after rabbit populations were reduced by disease or intensive conventional control.</p>
<h2>A rabbit opportunity</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67625/original/image-20141218-31040-5ggnl7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dying mulga tree and narrow-leaved fuchsia bush in a rangeland area degraded by rabbits and goats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robert Henzell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The regeneration of Mulga and other woody species over broad areas can make <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880911000582">significant contributions</a> to our emissions reduction targets. Mulga and other arid zone acacias are long-lived, grow slowly, and have very dense wood. This means that mature trees can store large amounts of carbon for their size, and keep much of it locked up long after the death of the plant. </p>
<p>Regenerating Mulga woodlands in western Queensland and New South Wales are estimated to capture <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880911000582">over half a tonne</a> of carbon dioxide equivalent, per hectare per year, in woody biomass alone. This equates to about four air passengers travelling from Sydney to Brisbane per hectare of mulga woodlands. </p>
<p>Rabbits inhabit most of the 143 million hectares of Australia’s Mulga woodlands. If their populations can be controlled, then there is considerable potential for natural carbon sequestration to help us meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets.</p>
<p>Other invasive herbivores – such as camels and goats – can also reduce vegetation cover and plant carbon storage. However, we already have a solid understanding of the rabbit’s impact on the environment, and they are very widespread which means that their eradication could have large positive impacts. </p>
<h2>How to control rabbits</h2>
<p>Conventional rabbit control operations – such as warren destruction and poison baiting - can be <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Cooke_lscape_rabbit_control.pdf">more cost-effective</a> at regenerating native vegetation, than planting more trees. This would be useful for the large areas of road-side reserves and stock routes which need revegetation. They rival the size of the National Park estate in terms of total area across south-eastern Australia. </p>
<p>These areas would be suitable for conventional rabbit control. Even a small increase in tree density due to rabbit control would help us achieve our greenhouse gas reduction targets. Rabbit control is often required to allow tree plantings to establish and flourish.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67573/original/image-20141218-31037-i7djb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rabbit feeds on a planted tree surrounded by a tree guard, despite an apparent abundance of green vegetation outside the tree guard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hillier, Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, there are many challenges in reducing the damage caused by rabbits, and improve our chances of achieving our greenhouse gas reduction targets. Most importantly, we need accurate estimates of the effect of rabbit control on natural carbon sequestration. We also need a means of monitoring actual carbon sequestration amounts, that complies with the stringent carbon accounting rules of the Kyoto Protocol.</p>
<p>Another major challenge is the declining effectiveness of rabbit hemorrhagic disease. Fortunately, a major cooperative research program is already underway to counter the virus’ diminishing effect, though biological control alone cannot be expected to completely mitigate rabbit impacts. </p>
<p>As we hark back to that fateful Christmas Day in 1859, a future of climate uncertainty, agricultural hardship and the loss of our unique biodiversity, we must be prepared to act on these challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Bengsen receives funding from Meat and Livestock Australia and the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre. He is affiliated with the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries .</span></em></p>On Christmas Day 1859, the Victoria Acclimatisation Society released 24 rabbits for hunting, to help settlers feel more at home. Given the millions of dollars in damage to agricultural productivity that…Andrew Bengsen, Research Scientist at NSW DPI and Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.