Are we going to teach the rabbit to do rabbit things?

Having a place of shelter and reproduction is a basic condition for almost all animals. And for the rabbit it is essential. When we are in an area with good conditions for rabbits to provide shelter, there is no need to do anything. They know very well how to build their burrows. But sometimes there are no good conditions for them to build. Land with poorly developed, very stony soils prevent them from building good burrows.

Also sometimes, we may be interested in having areas where rabbits have high densities and good shelters, so that from these they spread to others either naturally or by capturing them to release them in another area.

Nowadays, in many areas, rabbits are very abundant. But this situation will pass. Sooner or later, there will be a new outbreak of myxomatosis or EVH and it will greatly reduce populations. So now may be a good time, to prepare for when the rabbit is in short supply.

Building majanos is a measure that has proven effective in many cases, but in others it is clearly a waste of time and money. We must be clear that if in our preserve we have areas of scrub with sandy, clay soil, or wastelands, ditches or other unproductive areas in which the rabbit can thrive without discomfort, it is not necessary to install basins. They'll be digging the burrows. Now, if for another reason, we want to do bad things, we're going to do them well.

And for that we must take into account how the rabbit lives. And focus on several things. Namely:

• Rabbits have a complex social system. In each burrow live several females that are the dominant ones, and these are the ones that reproduce in that burrow. Normally no more than three females are dominant. The rest of the females to reproduce must build another burrow, close to the main one, these are small tunnels with a breeding chamber at the end. The mother prepares the burrow and after giving birth she returns to the main one during the day. At night he will return to the gazapera to feed the gazappos. As they are small burrows, they are easily attacked by predators. When we see gazapers in an area, we already know that there are quite a few rabbits there and that they may be “missing room” and above all that they will later disperse to other areas.
• Once established, rabbits don't move much of their territory. Young males do move around until they find a place to settle down. Females move less, but if there are already many females in the area, they will end up moving too. Once established in a territory, rabbits usually do not move more than 150 meters from their burrow.

Well, with these data we can design the distribution of majanos in a preserve. And we'll see that in the next post.