I wonder where the wallabies iz...?
Neither wallabies nor rabbits are native species to Doncaster, although rabbits have been there longer, having been introduced to England during Roman times. Before that rabbits were Southern European species and wallabies were confined to Australasia until the eighteenth century.
The European rabbit is the same species and also occurs in north Africa, although all rabbits are decendants of stone age Spanish rabbits. The Latin name Oryctolagus cuniculus refers to all of them including domestic rabbits, whatever their colour, size and shape. The earliest remains of rabbits in the UK were found in Norfolk in 2004. They appeared to have been butchered and eaten by Roman soldiers around 45 AD. In Medieval times they were called conies, the word rabbit originally meant the young of the coney and the word bunny was once a Scottish word for a squirel. The domestic 'Belgian hare' is actually a giant rabbit...Hares are different species, brown hares were also introduced to the UK by the Romans, mountain hares are the same species as Arctic hares and have lived in the UK since the ice age 10,000 plus years ago.
There are several species of wallabies native to Australia and New Guinea. Wallabies are marsupials like their larger relations the kangaroos. Unlike rabbits and hares they were not brought to England as food but as exotic species for zoos in Victorian times. They now live wild in a few UK locations including the Chilterns and Inchconnachan, an Island on Loch Lomond. There is also a large population on the Isle of Man.
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