biology daily - the biology and biochemistry encyclopedia
biology daily articles and research Encyclopedia Dictionary Forums biology research links Weblinks Pictures Articles Blogs Newsletter

Cuniculture

Cuniculture is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising rabbits.

Rabbits have a higher reproductive capacity than most farm animals. Females rabbits go through certain episodes called estrus or "heat" in each breeding season; it may be noticed thanks to the colouring of its vulva, which changes from pink to red. They can produce between 3 and 18 offspring every 3 months.

The small size and relative ease of handling and caring for rabbits makes cuniculture one of the few practical forms of "livestock" agricuture that suburban or even urban hobbyists can attempt. As there is not a large market for rabbit meat or fur, however, very few farmers in the United States engage in cuniculture to any significant extent.



07-14-2008 23:18:10
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy
BiologyDaily.com 2005. Legal info   Privacy