Chapter 19 seventeen rabbits
Food and Taboo
★Legendary Rabbit
It is a kind of animal that is easy to get close to in modern times, but strangely, in many ancient legends, they are a rather inauspicious animal.If you want the ship to land safely, you must never say the word rabbit on board, and you must not wiggle your nose or make other movements similar to rabbits, because rabbits may be spirits serving the wizarding world.It is said that if miners saw a rabbit when they were going to work in a coal pit, they would immediately turn around and go home.There is a piece of advice against leaving a black rabbit alone, because a black rabbit represents one's attachment to the soul of an earthly, restless grandmother.
Another superstition about rabbits is that rubbing their feet brings good luck.Also, good luck is guaranteed by uttering the word rabbit when waking up on the first morning of each month.Of course, there is Peter Rabbit (Peter Rabbit), Beatrice.Beatrix Potter contributed a lot to the image of this rabbit, making it an icon.The bunny bunny we are talking about today means cute.Like other animals domesticated by humans, rabbits have also become a metaphor for a comprehensive human culture.For better or worse, you can give the rabbit any role you want, and no one will argue with you.
★Original Rabbit
Rabbits in the world belong to the order Lagomorpha, not rodents as most people mistakenly think.In fact, they are more closely related to ungulates than to animals like rats, mice or squirrels.Lagodae includes about forty-nine species of rabbits and hares.The European hare is generally believed to be the ancestor of the millions of domestic rabbits now bred around the world, although they may vary somewhat in shape, color and size.There are currently forty recognized rabbit breeds in the United States alone, with at least 170 unique variations.The size difference between different breeds is very significant. A giant Fleming rabbit weighs about 14 to 20 pounds (about 6.4 to 9 kilograms). It may be the largest rabbit in the world; All of the thirty varieties of rabbits weigh less than two pounds (about 0.9 kilograms).
★where and when
The European rabbit was originally only found in the Iberian Peninsula, which is now Spain and Portugal.When human influence reached the land, one of two things could have happened: the rabbits were either hunted to extinction, or they were bred by humans and multiplied rapidly.What happened was the second, and then humans spread rabbits almost everywhere they went.
The Romans didn't breed the rabbits they carried with them to create different breeds and varieties (perhaps this reminds you of the same situation with the Dormouse).The Romans just kept rabbits in captivity, fattened them up, and ate them.
Rabbits are very prolific, and each female rabbit can produce thirty offspring a year.Forty-seven percent of all rabbits born are females, so the number of offspring a female rabbit and her offspring can produce is staggering.Rabbits reach sexual maturity at about five months of age, with an average gestation period of only thirty-one days.Female rabbits do not have an estrous cycle and can be bred at any time as long as they are not pregnant.Therefore, whether male or female rabbits, their reproductive ability is famous.
Unlike other mammals, rabbits don't ovulate until after mating.Lagomorphs are different from other animals in many ways; their eggs are large, even larger than those of humans, and the testicles of male rabbits are located in front of the penis, which is the opposite in other mammals.If the environment is not suitable for producing offspring, the female rabbit will absorb the embryo on its own.Sometimes rabbits also perform parthenogenetic reproduction without mating, and the offspring produced in this way are all female rabbits.Also, some rabbits have a gallbladder and some don't, and both are considered normal.The rabbit family is indeed a unique animal.
The Romans kept rabbits in captivity, maybe fed them occasional garden clippings, and left them to culminate, but they still enjoyed rabbit pie or stew year-round.The Romans didn't spend much time with rabbits, they just owned rabbits, and the pens they used to keep rabbits were called leporaria.The Romans may have kept other breeds of rabbits as well, and perhaps some wild rabbits, but they didn't breed them either.It's always easier to shoot rabbits in an enclosed field than in the wild.
★After the Romans
Medieval monks were probably the first people to actually keep rabbits. They bred rabbits of a certain size, presumably for some simple reason; rabbits were all the more important because the church did not consider the embryo of rabbits to be meat at that time.During fasting, monks can eat unborn baby rabbit embryos.
Rabbits are fond of digging burrows, and the Romans and rabbit breeders or rabbit breeders who chased rabbits must have watched their rabbits burrow into holes and escape.These escaped rabbits re-established themselves in the wild, but since they were never domesticated (at least in medieval times), we cannot call these escapees feral rabbits.
★Today's Rabbit
Rabbits are now considered a convenient way to supplement protein all over the world.Rabbits mature very quickly, are easy to control, and eat garden debris.I don't know exactly where rabbit is a staple food, but I would imagine that some areas do eat rabbit more often than others.Most Americans have never tasted rabbit meat, but the opposite is true in Europe. This is most likely influenced by the extreme admiration for Bonnie rabbits by Ms. Porter and her successors. Many people feel that eating rabbit meat is not only unreasonable Yazhitang is even more disgusting; eating rabbit meat has almost become a taboo.
Rabbits are often kept as pets, although this is more common in affluent societies.When people are starving, the thought of an animal like a rabbit as food can quickly become more appealing than a member of a backyard petting zoo.Thus, a bunny beloved by some may represent a dinner for others.
Although there are a huge number of breeds and varieties of rabbits, each has many admirers, and they are often displayed in the 4︱H and FFA exhibitions and other special exhibitions.Whenever there is a purebred rabbit show, there is always a traffic jam, and those high-level, unique and well-bred perfect standard bloodlines often win enviable reviews.
Rabbits killed for meat (whether they were hunted, captive or domesticated) also contributed their fur.In the fur trade, rabbit fur is mainly used to make children's clothes or trimmings, but because it sheds hair, breaks easily, and is neither warm nor durable, it is still not considered a good product even if rabbits contribute tens of thousands of rabbit skins. The upper is an important fur.Traps used to catch other animals whose fur is more commercially valuable will sometimes catch some hares as well, but they are usually discarded as they are not worth the trouble because they have no tradable value.This behavior is not only wasteful but also extremely harmful to rabbits, so a complete ban on the use of these traps should be encouraged around the world.
Indeed, rabbits in the wild can be a vermin to humans, whether it's the wood rabbit munching slowly in our vegetable gardens or the jack rabbit brought to Australia and multiplied by the millions.However, I don't think these reasons are sufficient to justify the massacre of rabbits; there are countless reasons why rabbits die, such as being stoned, clubbed, crushed in a trap, strangled in a snare, strangled by a Captured by traps, shot by bow javelins or shotguns, chased by dogs, hunted by cheetahs or eagles, etc.Additionally, rabbits are often the first prey of fledgling hunters.Incidentally, the word game comes from the German gamen, which literally means joy.In other words, the so-called prey is the animal that we kill with pleasure.
Despite the cruelty, abuse and waste of rabbits caused by humans hunting and trapping them for leisure rather than survival, rabbit herds remain small.Rabbits are extremely attractive animals and have so many endearing traits, it doesn't seem like they'll be any less attractive.In fact, as the human population continues to increase, the number of rabbits may have grown accordingly.For places with poor economic development, rabbits are easy-to-keep food animals and pets. Due to space constraints, the role of rabbits in the future may be more important than in the past.