Darwin’s rabbit sheds light on deadly virus

DNA from a rabbit owned by Charles Darwin 150 years ago has helped to show how its modern counterparts fought back from deadly myxomatosis through natural selection.

Its skull and other bones were among the remains of nearly 200 rabbits analysed in a study led by Cambridge University. Myxomatosis is spread between rabbits by insects, and most die within days.

The bones of Darwin’s rabbit were kept at the Natural History Museum in London. Specimens used in the study, published in the journal Science, date from 1865 to 2013.

Joel Alves, of Cambridge University, said that the researchers looked at how the mammals changed in Britain, France and Australia.

He added: ‘We compared rabbits collected before the virus outbreak in the 1950s with modern populations that evolved resistance, and found the same genes changed in all three countries.’