by: Robert McCroskey, http://pan-am.uniserve.com (previously
published in Pan-American Rabbit Science Newsletter 2001, Volume
6(1), 18-20.) Although being written from one of the few truly
temperate climates in North America, this article provides some
suggestions for raising and feeding rabbits in hot climates, or
in the condition of increasing global warming, by integrating
them with other land uses and making use of available
agricultural by-products as feed. Rabbits, like many other
traditional farm animals are more suited to cooler climates,
they have a low thermoneutral zone around 15°C., commence male
sterility at 29°C., become severely stressed over 35°C. and have
an average lethal ambient and rectal temperature at 42.8°C.
(Harkness 1988, Marai 1999). However, there are possibilities to
raise rabbits in hot climates that hinge on other properties of
the rabbit, such as small size and their ability to utilize many
agricultural byproducts in the feed. The small size of rabbits
and their relatively small