Cuniculture
Cuniculture is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising domestic rabbits as livestock for their meat, fur, or wool. Cuniculture is also employed by rabbit fanciers and hobbyists in the development and betterment of rabbit breeds and the exhibition of those efforts. Scientists practice cuniculture in the use and management of rabbits as model organisms in research. Cuniculture has been practiced all over the world since at least the 5th century.
History[edit]
Early husbandry[edit]
An abundance of ancient rabbits may have played a part in the naming of Spain. Phoenician sailors visiting its coast around the 12th century BC mistook the European rabbit for the familiar rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) of their homeland. They named their discovery i-shepan-ham, meaning 'land [or island] of hyraxes'. A theory exists (though it is somewhat controversial) that a corruption of this name used by the Romans became Hispania, the Latin name for the Iberian Peninsula.[1]
Domestication of the European rabbit rose slowly from a combination of game-keeping and animal husbandry. Among the numerous foodstuffs imported by sea to Rome during her domination of the Mediterranean were shipments of rabbits from Spain.[2]: 450 Romans also imported ferrets for rabbit hunting, and the Romans then distributed rabbits and the habit of rabbit keeping to the rest of Italy, to France, and then across the Roman Empire, including the British Isles.[3]: 42 Rabbits were kept in both walled areas as well as more extensively in game-preserves. In the British Isles, these preserves were known as warrens or garths, and rabbits were known as coneys, to differentiate them from the similar hares.[2]: 342–343 The term warren was also used as a name for the location where hares, partridges and pheasants were kept, under the watch of a game keeper called a warrener. In order to confine and protect the rabbits, a wall or thick hedge might be constructed around the warren, or a warren might be established on an island.[2]: 341–344 A warrener was responsible for controlling poachers and other predators and would collect the rabbits with snares, nets, hounds (such as greyhounds), or by hunting with ferrets.[2]: 343 With the rise of falconry, hawks and falcons were also used to collect rabbits and hares.
Domestication[edit]
While under the warren system, rabbits were managed and harvested, but not domesticated. The practice of rabbit domestication also came from Rome. Christian monasteries throughout Europe and the Middle East kept rabbits since at least the 5th century. While rabbits might be allowed to wander freely within the monastery walls, a more common method was the employment of rabbit courts or rabbit pits. A rabbit court was a walled area lined with brick and cement, while a pit was similar, although less well-lined and more sunken.[2]: 347–350 Individual boxes or burrow-spaces could line the wall. Rabbits would be kept in a group in these pits or courts, and individuals collected when desired for eating or pelts. Rabbit keepers transferred rabbits to individual hutches or pens for easy cleaning, handling, or for selective breeding, as pits did not allow keepers to perform these tasks. Hutches or pens were originally made of wood, but are now more frequently made of metal in order to allow for better sanitation.[4]
Aspects of rabbit production[edit]
Meat rabbits[edit]
Rabbits have been raised for meat production in a variety of settings around the world. Smallholder or backyard operations remain common in many countries, while large-scale commercial operations are centered in Europe and Asia. For the smaller enterprise, multiple local rabbit breeds may be easier to use.
Armenia in 2009
Macedonia in 2013
France in 2015
Germany in 2017
