On the domestication of rabbits.

[urbpan]

One of my greatest fascinations is with the history of the development of domestic animals (and the natural history of these animals.) A few moments ago, quite by accident, I discovered this (emphasis mine):

Credit for the actual domestication of rabbits goes to the early French Catholic monks. Because they lived in seclusion, the monks appreciated an easily obtainable meat supply. Their need to find a food suitable for Lent caused them to fall back on an item much loved by the Romans - unborn or newly born rabbits, which are called “Laurices.” (Laurice was officially classified as “fish” in 600 A.D. by Pope Gregory I, and thus permissible during Lent.) This strange taste, combined with the need to keep rabbits within the monastery walls, created the conditions that led to proper domestication and the inevitable selection of breeding stock for various characteristics and traits.

From the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy website.

(On a related tangent, I read some time ago that capybara is (was?) eaten during lent in South America, because it was considered to be "fish". But I hadn't heard about fetal rabbits.)

Comments

[ursulav.livejournal.com]

The capybara thing was pretty nice of them, actually--if you're living in inland South America, fish for Lent could be pretty tricky to come by. Capybara was right there and aquatic, so I always thought that was the Vatican bowing to neccessity to make people's lives easier.