Abstract
PROFESSIONAL rabbit-catchers in Pembrokeshire, when asked what was the average number of fæcal pellets dropped by the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.) in 24 hr., estimated the ‘output’ to be between 20 and 50 pellets. They based their estimates of numbers of rabbits present in a warren on these figures for pellets visible on the ground; which figures had, of course, to be multiplied by the number of days during which, they believed, a fæcal pellet survived above ground—about one week in wet, and several weeks in dry or frosty, weather—before it disintegrated or disappeared.
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References
Lockley, R. M., J. Anim. Ecol., 30, 385 (1961).
Hendrickson, G. O., Trans. N. Amer. Wildlife Conf., 4, 209 (1939).
Trippense, R. E., Trans. N. Amer. Wildlife Conf., 3, 795 (1938).
Dalke, P. D., and Sime, P. R., J. Wildlife Mgmt., 5, 216 (1941).
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LOCKLEY, R. Production of Fæcal Pellets in the Wild Rabbit. Nature 194, 988–989 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/194988a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/194988a0
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