Rabbits

Did you know that rabbits are Australia's biggest pest, specifically the feral European rabbit? You might think that they are just a pest because they eat all the grass and also small shrubs, forcing other species to compete with them for food. But this loss of vegetation creates a lot of other environmental problems because there are insects, native birds and even small mammals like bilbies and wombats that also rely on that vegetation for food and shelter. The rabbit holes - warrens - create soil errosion, resulting in good top soil which is rich in nutrients to blow away and degrade farming land. Scientists introduced the myxamatosis virus in the 1950's, which only effects rabbits, as a strategy for reducing the rabbit population. It was successful for some time but then the rabbit population became resistent to this disease. The rabbit calicivirus has also been introduce and is also having effect. (HJ and LD) Monahan, Susan. __cttntl.jpg__. April, 2005. Pics4Learning. 04 Jun 2007 http://pics.tech4learning.com