Historical background of rabbits

The wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) has given rise to all the domestic races of Iberian origin that have given rise to all those that are currently produced in the world (Santiago 2008). It is believed that rabbits existed for 45 million years being the evolution of their direct ancestor the leporid "Alilepus" (M.R.Dawson, Jaume Camps Barcelona 2000). This ancestor was located in the Eurasian continent and 2 million years ago in the Iberian Peninsula (Jaume Camps). In the monarch islands in Spain the finding of a morpho lake called "Nuralagus rex" or giant monarch rabbit with characteristics more related to the rabbit and / or free its fossil remains were found in the year 2011 (Aron W.2017) .
The wild rabbit was discovered by the Phoenicians when they established contact with Spain in 1000 BC by southern Europe and northern Africa. Remaining the rabbit in the time of the Romans as a symbol of Spain consumed the rabbit in fetus or neonate by calling it "laurices". The domestication of rabbits goes from years 116 and 27 BC by Várron who proposes to keep the rabbits in "leporaria" (burrow or subterranean place to protect them from predators). In the middle ages the monks used to consume the laurices in times of Lent as a water delicacy. In France rabbit consumption becomes a lordly right marrying those with traps nets and ties. In the sixteenth century several breeds of rabbits are introduced from controlled breeding, the existence of rabbits dark gray (wild) white, black, peeps (gray crests) in 1606 Oliver de Serres distinguishes three types of rabbits, "rabbit field, the rabbit of preserve and the conejera rabbit "I consider that the meat of the rabbits of preserve and field is delicate meat and rabbit of conejera is insipid meat the monks perfected the upbringing of the rabbits to obtain a delight of satisfaction to his appetite in the same century the raising of rabbits is spread to France Italy and England.
The nutrition of rabbits at that time was of consumption of vegetables, forages such as hay beet and cereals. At this same time the skin of rabbits was of secondary use (F.lebas P. caudert Rochambeau and R. G. Thébault 1996).
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