Pest or Vermin:
Rabbits
The male is called a buck and the female is a doe; a young rabbit is a kitten or kit.
Appearance:
The rabbit's long ears, which can be more than 10 cm (4 in) long, are probably an adaptation for detecting predators. They have large, powerful hind legs. The two front paws have 5 toes, the extra called the dewclaw. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, larger and longer hind legs and have black markings on their fur. Hares have not been domesticated, while European rabbits are both raised for meat and kept as pets.The fur is most commonly long and soft, with colors such as shades of brown, gray, and buff. The tail is a little plume of brownish fur (white on top for cottontails). Rabbits can see nearly 360 degrees, with a small blind spot at the bridge of the nose.
Food:
Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass, forbs, and leafy weeds. In consequence, their diet contains large amounts of cellulose, which is hard to digest.
Habitat:
Rabbit habitats include meadows, woods, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands.[1] Rabbits live in groups, and the best known species, the European rabbit, lives in underground burrows, or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a warren.[1]All rabbits except cottontail rabbits live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares live in simple nests above the ground (as do cottontail rabbits), and usually do not live in groups.
Breeding:
Rabbits have been a source of environmental problems when introduced into the wild by humans. As a result of their appetites, and the rate at which they breed, feral rabbit depredation can be problematic for agriculture.
Diseases:
Rabbits can be affected by a number of diseases. These include pathogens that also affect other animals and/or humans, such as Bordetella bronchiseptica and Escherichia coli', as well as diseases unique to rabbits such as rabbit haemorrhagic disease and myxomatosis.
Rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.
Among the parasites that infect rabbits are tapeworms such as Taenia serialis, external parasites like fleas and mites, coccidia species, and Toxoplasma gondii.
Damage:
Feral rabbit depredation can be problematic for agriculture. Rabbits in Australia and New Zealand are considered to be such a pest that land owners are legally obliged to control them.Rabbits have been a source of environmental problems when introduced into the wild by humans. As a result of their appetites, and the rate at which they breed, gassing, barriers (fences), shooting, snaring, and ferreting have been used to control rabbit populations, but the most effective measures are diseases such as myxomatosis (myxo or mixi, colloquially) and calicivirus. In Europe, where rabbits are farmed on a large scale, they are protected against myxomatosis and calicivirus with a genetically modified virus. The virus was developed in Spain, and is beneficial to rabbit farmers. If it were to make its way into wild populations in areas such as Australia, it could create a population boom, as those diseases are the most serious threats to rabbit survival.