Introduction

Introductions of many plants and animals began with the first human settlements in Australia and continued for many decades. Acclimatisation societies enthusiastically introduced birds, mammals and plants to reshape the land for aesthetic reasons and also for recreation (Dunlap 1997). Introduced animals have been a major factor in Australia’s unenviable record of having nearly half the known mammalian extinctions worldwide in the past 200 years (Short and Smith 1994). In this chapter we describe the arrival and establishment of an alien invasive species, the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus L. in Australia and the likely reasons for their successful establishment.

Australia’s record of ‘achievement’ for successfully releasing alien invasive mammalian pests is disheartening. Cattle were perhaps the first of the invaders, after arriving with the first European settlers in 1788. Domestic cattle strayed into the wilderness and had increased tenfold by the time they were discovered in 1795 (Rolls 1969). Over the next 200 years there were 79 subsequent releases of introduced mammalian species, 54 of which are known to or likely to have established (Long, 2003). Original releases occurred by accident, as was the case with escaping domestic animals, or were deliberate for reasons ranging from acclimatisation, subjects of the hunt, sources of food or fur, or in some cases as biological control agents (Rolls 1969). At least 15 mammals now have widespread distributions on the mainland with some associated pest status (Bomford and Hart 2002). The Australian Vertebrate Pests Committee (VPC) has nominated seven of these mammals as nationally significant invasive animals: feral pigs (Sus scrofa L.), feral goats (Capra hircus L.), rabbits (O. cuniculus), foxes (Vulpes vulpes L.), feral cats (Felis catus L.), wild dogs (including dingo hybrids) (Canis lupus familiaris L. and Canis lupus dingo Meyer) and feral deer (various species) (National Land and Water Resources Audit 2008).