@not_for_sale2025 wrote:
@icyfroth wrote:
@davidc4430 wrote:
The bilby is Australia's very own Easter bunny, but how much do you actually know about it?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-04-11/bilby-easter-quiz/12130280
All very good, but the symbolism of the Easter Bunny is the fact that it can reproduce in phenomenal numbers agains all odds. Fertile.
Easter, being an ancient (European) celebration of fertility, this is where the rabbit comes in. It's very fertile. And the eggs, of course. Fertility is the key.
The Bilby, on the other hand, may be fertile enough in it's own environment, is no competition for the introduced species.
Oh and.... the chocolate manufacturors, who have a vested interest in choclolate Easter bunnies and eggs (because it's a carryover from our European Ausssie forebears), will keep promoting it.
Big profits, you know.
Our new Aussie migrants won't mind, they'll keep up the tradition, but will have no idea why. They'll just think it's a celebration of chocolate.
Did you actually do the quiz?
No. I didn't realise it was mandatory.
It states bilbies breed "whenever they can". They are natural studs. I would imagine the females may be more fertile than rabbits. I say get into it bilby, throughout Easter if you choose.
"While Bilbies co-existed with Aboriginal people for 60,000 years, in the 200 years since Europeans arrived they've been pushed close to extinction.
https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/bilby
I'm sure they do it "whenever they can", but it looks like the rabbits are overtaking them in the breeding stakes.
As I said, they might be fertile enough to survive in their own environment, but they are no match for introduced species, such as RABBITS, cats, dogs foxes, goats, camels, cane toads, pigs etc.
And for our Anglo-European whitey Aussie traditions...well... we just like the rabbits...and the eggs. They're our tradition, even if we don't remember why.
For the retailers, it's all about selling chocolate.
For the new Aussies, they'll go along with it, because chocolate is nice and hunting eggs is fun and getting together with the family is important, but they won't know why.
Easter is an age-old celebration of fertility, way, way before Christianity took it over as the resurrection of JC.
