Rabbits: cuddly friends or cunning tricksters? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello. This is 6 Minute English,

I'm Neil. And joining me is Rob.

Rob: Hello.

Neil: Rob, when we think of Easter,

what do you think of?

Rob: Chocolate!

Neil: Well, yes chocolate Easter eggs are

an obvious symbol of Easter. But there is

an animal people often associate with Easter...

Rob: Rabbits! Cute, adorable and fluffy -

what's not to like about a rabbit?

Neil: Well, not everyone is a fan of them

- by 'not a fan of' I mean they don't like

them. Some people think they are a pest.

But we'll be telling you

more about rabbits shortly.

Rob: That's good to know.

Well, I'll tell you what I am a fan of

and that is your quiz questions -

so what are you going to ask me today?

Neil: It's all about wild rabbits. In the

last rabbit survey in 1995, how many were

estimated to exist in the UK? Is it...

a) 370,500, b) 3,750,000,

or c) 37,500,000?

Rob: I know rabbits are everywhere

in the UK but not 37 million of them - so

I'll go for b) 3,750,000.

Neil: Well, you'll have to wait until the

end of the programme to find out.

But you're right when you say

rabbits are everywhere in the UK.

It's probably true in other countries

too. You could say they are endemic -

meaning very common or strongly

established in a place or situation.

Rob: But are they a typically

British wild animal?

Neil: They are now but it's believed

they were brought to the country

by invaders - some say The Romans,

others The Normans. But they

eventually spread across the UK. Victoria

Dickinson is author of a book called

Rabbit and she's been telling

the BBC Radio 4 programme

Costing The Earth about what

helped them spread...

Victoria Dickinson: It was really

by the middle of the 17th Century when

people really started

to think about rabbit as being particularly

British...and certainly

there were more rabbits

in Britain than in the rest of Europe. There

was a calculation done that there are over

400 villages and towns in Britain with the

word 'warren' in their name. So the rabbits

were raised in Britain but they really kept

to their warrens until there was the rise

of fox hunting - when their predators

disappeared rabbits do what

rabbits do best, and they

started to multiply and become wild,

feral rabbits throughout the land.

Neil: So Victoria knows a thing or

two about rabbits - and said

the word 'warren' used

in town and village names, is evidence

that they've been in the UK

since the mid-17th Century. A warren is

the area underground where rabbits

live with lots of holes and

connected passages.

Rob: But today we use the word warren

to mean a building or a part of

a town where there are lots of

confusing passageways or streets.

It's a kind of place where you get lost.

Neil: But it was rabbit warrens where

rabbits would live until hunting,

particularly fox hunting, was

introduced and that killed many of the

rabbit's predators. A predator is an

animal that hunts and

kills another animal.

Rob: Now, Victoria was talking about feral

rabbits - so wild rabbits - not the sort

people keep at pets in a rabbit hutch.

Moving on... I'm interested to know

why not everyone loves these cute

little creatures, I mean, think of the rabbit

characters in the Beatrix Potter stories.

Neil: Well they weren't always

well behaved. And Victoria Dickinson

spoke to the Costing the Earth

programme about this. What word

did she use to describe rabbits having the

two opposite sides to their character?

Victoria Dickinson: The rabbit is a

paradoxical animal; it has a lot

of faces if you will.

It's both wild and tame, it's timid but also

has its reputation as trickster rabbit - if

you think of Peter Cottontail, or you think

of Br'er Rabbits - and

I think our relationship with rabbit is the

rabbit of the nursery rhyme, the rabbit of

childhood or you think of Peter Rabbit.

Rob: She said that rabbits are paradoxical

animals - that's the word that describes

them having two

opposing characteristics.

Neil: Yes - we think of them as wild,

maybe a trickster - someone

who deceives people to get what they

want. Like Peter - what a cheeky rabbit!

Rob: But we also think of rabbits as tame

- we have nursery rhymes about them,

kids have soft cuddly rabbit toys.

I say they're the perfect symbol for Easter.

Neil: OK Rob, if you say so. But now

let me answer the question

I set you earlier. In the last survey of

rabbits in 1995, how many were

estimated to exist in the UK? Was it...

a) 370,500, b) 3,750,000,

or c) 37,500,000?

Rob, what did you say?

Rob: I said b) 3,750,000.

Neil: Well, you're wrong Rob!

A government survey put the population

in the UK at 37.5 million - so a lot more.

But despite its reputation, a recent survey

suggests rabbit numbers in the UK

have declined by around

60 per cent over the last 20 years.

Rob: That is sad news. But let's cheer

ourselves up with a recap of the

vocabulary we've discussed

today, starting with a fan of.

Neil: When someone is a fan of

something, they are keen on it,

they like it a lot. If you're not a fan

of something - you don't like it.

Rob: We mentioned endemic - meaning

very common or strongly established

in a place or situation.

Neil: And we talked about a warren - an

underground area where rabbits live, but

also a building or a part of a town

where there are lots of confusing

passageways or streets

where it is easy to get lost.

Rob: A predator is an animal that hunts

and kills another animal.

Neil: Paradoxical describes things that

have two opposing characteristics

making it hard to understand.

Rob: And a trickster is someone who

deceives people to get what they want.

Neil: Well, I'm no trickster, it really

has been six minutes so it's time to call

it a day. Please join us next time.

Rob: Bye for now.

Neil: Goodbye!