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The Flemish Giant originated in Flanders.It was bred as early as the 16th century near the city of Ghent, Belgium.It is believed to have descended from a number of meat and fur breeds, possibly including the Steenkonijn ("Stone Rabbit"—referring to the old Belgian weight size of one stone or about 3.8 kilograms (8.4 lb)) and the European "Patagonian" breed (now extinct).
Different breeds of rabbit at an exhibition in the Netherlands, 1952. As of 2017, there were at least 305 breeds of the domestic rabbit in 70 countries around the world raised for in the agricultural practice of breeding and raising domestic rabbits as livestock for their value in meat, fur, wool, education, scientific research, entertainment and companionship in cuniculture. [1]
Counterintuitively, the giant rabbit breeds are rarely used for meat production, due to their extended growth rates (which lead to high feed costs) and their large bone size (which reduces the percentage of their weight that is usable meat). Dwarf breeds, too, are rarely used, due to the high production costs, slow growth, and low offspring rate.
As livestock, European rabbits are bred for their meat and fur. The earliest breeds were important sources of meat, [39] [40] and so were bred to be larger than wild rabbits at younger ages, [41] but domestic rabbits in modern times range in size from dwarf to giant.
The Natal red rock hare is a large rabbit, measuring 46 to 56 cm (18 to 22 in) in length, having a 3.5 to 11 cm (1.4 to 4.3 in) long, bright reddish brown tail lighter in tone than other members of the genus, and weighing 2.4 to 3 kg (5.3 to 6.6 lb).
Annette says that every year, the father and son eat around 2,000 carrots and 700 apples, plus daily bowls of specialist rabbit food and a bale of hay every week -- all of which costs almost $7,500.
The domestic rabbit subspecies of the European rabbit has been domesticated. The 64 extant species of Leporidae are contained within 11 genera . One genus, Lepus , contains 32 species that are collectively referred to as hares; the other eight genera are generally referred to as rabbits, with the majority – 19 species – in Sylvilagus , or ...
The species is known as klipdas in Afrikaans (etymology: rock + badger), [citation needed] while most people just call them "dassies" (the plural of dassie) or "rock rabbits" in South Africa. The Swahili names for them are pimbi , pelele , and wibari , though the latter two names are nowadays reserved for the tree hyraxes . [ 38 ]