What do you think?
Rate this book
The private life of the rabbit: An account of the life history and social behaviour of the wild rabbit
Written with an evident love of animals and nature, 'The Private Life of the Rabbit' presents a completely new picture of the wild rabbit and its way of life. Mt. Lockley, who observed rabbits in Wales over a 5 year period, shows that they have a complex community life little understood by the world in general. These vegetarian creatures posses both dignity and 'animality'; psychological factors play as large a part in shaping their lives as they do in ours. One finds, too, that their reputation for promiscuity and wanton reproduction is really undeserved.Lockley built an artificial warren with glass sides and several tracts of natural habitat—an open plain, a woodlot, a lushly vegetated savannah were enclosed and arranged for maximum ease of observation with minimum interference. This controlled rabbit colony was observed every day and night in every season and in all kinds of weather.In Lockley's account, rabbits emerge with characteristics and personalities of their own. The nicknames he gives them (Weary Willie, Timid Timothy, Bold Benjamin, for example) in no way lessen the objective and scientific accuracy of his findings. In fact, this touch of individuality reinforces the observation that rabbits are creatures with interests, wills, and preferences of their own. Female conservatism, scent setting or 'chinning' by dominant males, the ability of the female to absorb her fertilized embryo, the stress of subordinate status...and more, are revealed here.Intro by Richard Adams * the Mind of the Rabbit * The Coney Garth * The Nucleus * The Dynasty in Plain * The Kings of Wood * Over-populated World * Hard Times * The Idyll in Savanna * Life Underground * Reingestion * Population and Birth Control * Myxomatosis * The Rabbit Wild and Free
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
R.M. Lockley
63 books4 followersRonald Mathias Lockley, known in his published works as R. M. Lockley, was a Welsh ornithologist and naturalist. He wrote over fifty books on natural history.
Read more about him from this BBC profile:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entr...
Read more about him from this BBC profile:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entr...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
November 4, 2013
I struggled to finish this book, despite it's short length of 144 pages. After having read "Watership Down," I wanted to learn more about the European Rabbit, particularly since Richard Adams based much of what he wrote of their behavior in "Watership Down," on what he learned from this book. I know animal research is not always a humane business, but I was very put off by the matter-of-fact way that Mr. Lockley spoke of introducing deadly diseases to his rabbit colonies. It was a rather dry scientific type book, with attempts at humor that I found more annoying than humorous. Overall, it was a snoozer and I learned more from the 5-page appendix than I did from the 144 pages that preceded it.
January 19, 2021
Like (I suspect) most of this book’s current readers, I picked up Lockley’s account of his research into rabbits because it was featured so enthusiastically in the forward to Watership Down. It’s not quite what I was expecting.
Rather than being particularly literary or comprehensive, it is mostly an account of specific experiments the author undertook. Some of them seem slightly ethically dubious from a contemporary perspective. They certainly included plenty of rabbit death. On the other hand, it's clear that no cruelty was intended; and the amount of information the author was able to gather without the benefit of modern technology is an impressive tribute to his patience and dedication.
I also rolled my eyes very hard at a few brief passages that were SO SO SO SO 1970’s. For instance, the one about how people like rabbits because their faces are round like wombs and remind us of maternal warmth and safety (can you guess why we fear wolves and other creatures with long, pointy faces?).
Ultimately, though, I did find the book interesting in a dry sort of way and had no trouble finishing it.
Rather than being particularly literary or comprehensive, it is mostly an account of specific experiments the author undertook. Some of them seem slightly ethically dubious from a contemporary perspective. They certainly included plenty of rabbit death. On the other hand, it's clear that no cruelty was intended; and the amount of information the author was able to gather without the benefit of modern technology is an impressive tribute to his patience and dedication.
I also rolled my eyes very hard at a few brief passages that were SO SO SO SO 1970’s. For instance, the one about how people like rabbits because their faces are round like wombs and remind us of maternal warmth and safety (can you guess why we fear wolves and other creatures with long, pointy faces?).
Ultimately, though, I did find the book interesting in a dry sort of way and had no trouble finishing it.
September 9, 2009
Given this book's prominent mention in Watership Down, perhaps I was expecting too much. I came away feeling I hadn't really learned all that much about the European rabbit, but I had learned a great deal about how one goes about setting up an experiment to study rabbits.
I was also admittedly put off by the author's willing assistance in spreading the virus myxomatosis, which is virulently lethal to rabbits.
I was also admittedly put off by the author's willing assistance in spreading the virus myxomatosis, which is virulently lethal to rabbits.
July 8, 2018
Interesting, informative and very matter of fact. observations clearly separated from suppositions - I'm inspired to look more closely at every rabbit I meet.
July 7, 2014
I believe I read this many years ago as a teenage rabbit enthusiast. Learned a great deal. Re-read it and wondered if it was the same book. For instance, I seem to remember that the edition I read had more about the underground warren behavior.
The author and some assistants observed enclosed study groups of wild European rabbits in different terrains, including one where the observers could examine rabbit life in an artificial warren. The rabbits paired up, with male rabbits protecting their territory and their mate(s) and female rabbits apparently strongly associated themselves with their home burrows.
This book probably not for those whose blood boils at raising rabbits for meat or poor treatment of wild creatures, as the author was a professional rabbit raiser during the time when rabbit meat was a viable industry in England. He was involved in the study of and use of Myxomatosis virus to control rabbit populations; he is not convinced that the disease is greatly painful to wild rabbits, but that it is preferable to the gin-trap -- a spring-operated serrated trap formerly used against rabbits. (The gin-trap caught prey and predator indiscriminately, and usually the animal remained in the trap, in great pain until the trapper returned the next day.)
Of more concern to me was the dated nature of the analysis. Over and over Lockley makes statements about the behavior of female rabbits (in particular) that seem to be very based on his (circa 1950s-era) ideas about human behavior. It's unclear to me whether a set of observers with different ideas about the role of the female in human and in general life might have come to different conclusions.
The author and some assistants observed enclosed study groups of wild European rabbits in different terrains, including one where the observers could examine rabbit life in an artificial warren. The rabbits paired up, with male rabbits protecting their territory and their mate(s) and female rabbits apparently strongly associated themselves with their home burrows.
This book probably not for those whose blood boils at raising rabbits for meat or poor treatment of wild creatures, as the author was a professional rabbit raiser during the time when rabbit meat was a viable industry in England. He was involved in the study of and use of Myxomatosis virus to control rabbit populations; he is not convinced that the disease is greatly painful to wild rabbits, but that it is preferable to the gin-trap -- a spring-operated serrated trap formerly used against rabbits. (The gin-trap caught prey and predator indiscriminately, and usually the animal remained in the trap, in great pain until the trapper returned the next day.)
Of more concern to me was the dated nature of the analysis. Over and over Lockley makes statements about the behavior of female rabbits (in particular) that seem to be very based on his (circa 1950s-era) ideas about human behavior. It's unclear to me whether a set of observers with different ideas about the role of the female in human and in general life might have come to different conclusions.
November 17, 2008
The book that Richard Adams studied to write Watership Down, this is a fascinating account of a large-scale study of the everyday habits of the rabbit in England. Very readable, and even to a reader who does not find rabbits intrinsically interesting, this was a engaging read.
June 25, 2008
I came to this book after reading that it had inspired Richard Adams in the writing of Watership Down. It's in my favorites of natural history list now: oddly engrossing about the European rabbit.
June 9, 2012
The author researched the behavior of wild rabbits. Very informative and fun to read.
March 2, 2018
Enjoyed, not tedious to me. I now have a better understanding of the wild rabbits on and around our property.
February 17, 2019
Easy to read and full of fascinating information. Somewhat dated but still worth a read.
May 17, 2024
A few months ago I was in my backyard, reading and relaxing with my dogs, when I heard a high-pitched shriek. It was disturbing—sounding like a child screaming—doubly disturbing as I don’t have any kids (that I know of.)
I looked up to see what was going on, and saw my dog holding a rabbit by the scruff of its neck in her jaws. I tried to get her to drop it, and eventually she did, but by then it appeared to be too late.
I ushered the dog inside the house, without chastising her (I didn’t want to give her a complex about following her nature.) Then I went to the garage and got a shovel to prepare digging a grave for the ill-fated rabbit.
No sooner than I put spade to earth, though, did the rabbit hop up and bound away, into the bushes, and freedom.
I was happy that he or she hadn’t been killed, but that eerily childlike, adenoidal scream has stayed with me.
“The Private Life of the Rabbit” by R.M. Lockley examines the behavior and morphology of rabbits in the English countryside, but it does so from a curious and original angle. The author recognizes this tendency to anthropomorphize our fellow-mammals, and cops to his own tendency to do so. That he remains aware of it throughout the study doesn’t mean that he always succumbs to it, but sometimes he willingly does so, and the results are fascinating.
So fascinating in fact that at times it begins to feel like a narrative, and each of the rabbits assumes not just a place in the warren’s hierarchy, but a personality.
Small wonder, then, that author Richard Adams found very much inspiration as well as information in this book for his epic tale of rabbits struggling to survive, “Watership Down.”
The ultimate effect of this experiment is to show the life of the rabbit as very much like the life of the human, and perhaps most other species. The creatures experience much cruelty from surrounding nature—including predators and diseases and manmade problems like habitat destruction and death beneath car tire tread. But there is also a lot of joy and pleasure in their lives, both beauty belowground in their warrens and on the heath, waiting for them when they emerge.
Its strange whimsy, while novel and appreciated, ultimately doesn’t mar its educative function. Yes, it will make you care about the rabbits, but it will also teach you about them. If you ever do keep one for a pet, though, be careful not to “Lenny” it by sessions of too-strenuous petting. With charts, graphs, photos, and illustrations. Recommended.
I looked up to see what was going on, and saw my dog holding a rabbit by the scruff of its neck in her jaws. I tried to get her to drop it, and eventually she did, but by then it appeared to be too late.
I ushered the dog inside the house, without chastising her (I didn’t want to give her a complex about following her nature.) Then I went to the garage and got a shovel to prepare digging a grave for the ill-fated rabbit.
No sooner than I put spade to earth, though, did the rabbit hop up and bound away, into the bushes, and freedom.
I was happy that he or she hadn’t been killed, but that eerily childlike, adenoidal scream has stayed with me.
“The Private Life of the Rabbit” by R.M. Lockley examines the behavior and morphology of rabbits in the English countryside, but it does so from a curious and original angle. The author recognizes this tendency to anthropomorphize our fellow-mammals, and cops to his own tendency to do so. That he remains aware of it throughout the study doesn’t mean that he always succumbs to it, but sometimes he willingly does so, and the results are fascinating.
So fascinating in fact that at times it begins to feel like a narrative, and each of the rabbits assumes not just a place in the warren’s hierarchy, but a personality.
Small wonder, then, that author Richard Adams found very much inspiration as well as information in this book for his epic tale of rabbits struggling to survive, “Watership Down.”
The ultimate effect of this experiment is to show the life of the rabbit as very much like the life of the human, and perhaps most other species. The creatures experience much cruelty from surrounding nature—including predators and diseases and manmade problems like habitat destruction and death beneath car tire tread. But there is also a lot of joy and pleasure in their lives, both beauty belowground in their warrens and on the heath, waiting for them when they emerge.
Its strange whimsy, while novel and appreciated, ultimately doesn’t mar its educative function. Yes, it will make you care about the rabbits, but it will also teach you about them. If you ever do keep one for a pet, though, be careful not to “Lenny” it by sessions of too-strenuous petting. With charts, graphs, photos, and illustrations. Recommended.
July 17, 2019
In the words of Sawyer from the show Lost: "It's about bunnies."
Meaning, no, neither Sawyer's foreshadowing beach read of Watership Down nor this natural history are really about the rabbits.
Lockley anthropomorphizes his study subjects, and worse, not only looks at them through a very human lens, he views them with a very dated, sexist, 1950's gender-view lens that was hard for someone in the 21st century to wade through. Even harder to get through was his casual destruction of habitats and ecosystems as he casually describes killing one population of rabbits by gassing the burrows - a very mid-20th century attitude of see-a-problem-gas-it.
So, I'd love to learn more with a modern study using up-to-date study materials and attitudes, but still, knowing this book was Watership's author prime source, it explains a lot about that at least.
March 10, 2019
Not what I was expecting when I read the reverence Richard Adams expressed for the book in Watership Down. More of a case study on a particular group of rabbits under human manipulation and scrutiny than an overall insight into rabbitual habits writ large. Veered close to two stars when reading how indifferent to rabbit life the author was, both inside and outside the study, including serious discussion of raising rabbits for meat and slaughtering them with disease. But there's just enough compassion and insight here to make me glad I read it, even if I would probably dislike Mr. Lockley much in real life.
March 27, 2019
Much of the content of this book seems outdated, now that animals can be easily observed in their burrows or outdoors at night, with the aid of technology. The experimental techniques described now seem rudimentary. That said, the results are still valid and interesting: and the second half of the book, which is more discursive, still reads well. The discussion of myxomatosis is interesting.
One indication that it was written in the cold war: on p.128 (paperback edition) the author uses the rabbit's precipitous decline as a metaphor for the contemporaneous risk of the destruction of the human race.
One indication that it was written in the cold war: on p.128 (paperback edition) the author uses the rabbit's precipitous decline as a metaphor for the contemporaneous risk of the destruction of the human race.
August 31, 2022
(☆☆☆½) Read this because I'm also reading Watership Down, and it was apparently the inspiration for much of the worldbuilding in that story. A weird and easy read... made me glad I'm not a wild rabbit lol
July 15, 2022
A bit more zoological than I anticipated and thus difficult to read in spots, but well worth it if you're a lover of rabbits or Watership Down.
March 18, 2023
dnf page 76
Read
January 2, 2026bratz-sasha
March 19, 2017
At first I wondered why after many years of being a "rabbit person", doing a good deal of reading on the topic, I had never run across this book or anyone who mentioned reading it. After having read it, I now know why that is.
If you are someone who will be upset by reading about rabbits being intentionally killed, or being allowed to suffer, you will not enjoy reading this book. I found it really difficult at times but slogged through it anyway for the knowledge value it might contain.
Which was not earth shattering, but actually worth the effort for the few new insights it did contain. Think of it as an element of completeness in rabbit education.
I also was fascinated by the anthropological aspect of it - what was acceptable to do/say back in the mid 1900's versus what is acceptable now. Big difference. For example, back at the time there were efforts in several regions of the world to eradicate rabbit populations using a virus. The only people the author mentioned as raising opposition were the people who wanted to be able to hunt the rabbits. 'Nuf said.
If you are someone who will be upset by reading about rabbits being intentionally killed, or being allowed to suffer, you will not enjoy reading this book. I found it really difficult at times but slogged through it anyway for the knowledge value it might contain.
Which was not earth shattering, but actually worth the effort for the few new insights it did contain. Think of it as an element of completeness in rabbit education.
I also was fascinated by the anthropological aspect of it - what was acceptable to do/say back in the mid 1900's versus what is acceptable now. Big difference. For example, back at the time there were efforts in several regions of the world to eradicate rabbit populations using a virus. The only people the author mentioned as raising opposition were the people who wanted to be able to hunt the rabbits. 'Nuf said.
April 20, 2016
I finally got around to finishing this book (mostly because the library wanted their book back) and found this to be a little hard to read, but a delightful resource on rabbits. It's not necessarily unbiased as I would expect most rabbit studies to be, but I can see the heavy, heavy influence on Watership Down. Lockley portrays the life of rabbits so well and in such a human way. As he says at the end, "Rabbits are so human. Or is that that humans are so rabbit?"
Also, I found my namesake rabbit. The Romerolagus:
https://40.media.tumblr.com/c2fdbeac1...
Also, I found my namesake rabbit. The Romerolagus:
https://40.media.tumblr.com/c2fdbeac1...
December 14, 2012
It's hard to find rabbit raising material that is scientific, and not based on folk wisdom. This is a must-read for any rabbit raiser. Recommended to me by Myriam Kaplan-Pasternak at Devil's Gulch, it was essential to my understanding of rabbit's mating and territorial instincts.
September 3, 2008
written with incredible investment and care.
December 22, 2008
Wonderful natural history book - a monograph on how rabbits live, reproduce, and die...inspiration for "Watership Down".
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews