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Gamal Sherif's picture

Rabbits and genetic variability

Submitted by Gamal Sherif (guest) on Mon, 04/21/2014 - 4:57am.

re: "Rabbits can also show exponential population growth. A female cottontail rabbit begins reproducing by one year of age and typically has 3-4 litters of 4-5 baby rabbits each breeding season. A cottontail rabbit can live up to 8 years in captivity. If a population begins with a pair of breeding adults, and the rabbits have maximum reproduction and survival, how many rabbits do you think there would be after six years (just guessing, without calculating)?"

Why is it that the rabbits' offspring can interbreed with little or no mutation? Is there enough genetic variability so that the offspring from the first pair of rabbits are able to successfully produce healthy offspring?

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