Posted By Kokaneeandkahlua on 01/07/2008 9:23 AM
Weird!! I’ve actually never read the book…why would you recommend it to rabbit lovers? What is the plotline? (you have me interested now!!!)
Weird? Not really – It’s a literary classic and well-known film.
The plotline follows a group of rabbits on a quest to escape the foreseen doom of their warren and "is a heroic fantasy with rabbits of human intelligence but in their natural environment. They are depicted as having a culture, including a language (Lapine), proverbs, poetry and mythology. Several chapters present pieces of rabbit lore and many editions also include an appendix of Lapine vocabulary." [wiki]
Also, it contains many accurate depictions of rabbit behavior. "Adams’s description of wild rabbit behaviour was much influenced by The Private Life of the Rabbit by British naturalist Ronald Lockley…" [wiki]
Note- The Private Life of the Rabbit is a fascinating book (although I haven’t yet had a chance to read it) and is a rare, intimate look at wild rabbit society and behavior. "Lockley was apparently born with a seventh sense —of wonder—and has expended most of it on rabbits, which he has studied in every imaginable sort of enclosure, even including a real burrow with specially installed infra-red lighting and glass sides. Thus observed, the symbols of timidity are revealed as citizens in a complex social structure, full of dominant and submissive roles, populated with kings, queens and knaves. The butt of ceaseless fertility jokes turns out to be the master—or rather mistress—of birth control; when overcrowded or undernourished, the rabbit "resorbs" its embryos in utero…" [TIME]
Watership Down is highly recommended and I’ll let you know what I think when I find a copy of The Private Life of the Rabbit, which so inspired Adams in writing Watership Down.
Here’s some book and film covers to pique your interest further 



