One of those long car trip discussions led to the following question:

"Are you better off to avoid eating rabbit in a survival situation?"

You would inevitably die of malnutrition on a diet solely consisting of rabbit meat, but would it be useful in a short-term survival situation? It would certainly help with morale, but would the body waste so much energy with digestion that you would be best to avoid it?

I've heard suggestions that the bone marrow and brains might be better than nothing, and if you had some form of fat in which to cook the rabbit it could make it okay (a good reason for having a tallow candle), but nothing convincing either way when it comes to eating just the rabbit.


Does anyone know for certain whether a person could derrive any worthwhile energy from eating rabbit over the short term?

The problem is that rabbit meat is low in fat. If you eat some of the organs, liver, kidneys etc..., then the fat issue is solved. Even scrapping the fat off of the skin will help.
cheers

I admit to being totally puzzled by this. Doesn't the human body convert all excess calories into fat regardless of the source? I can understand the need for the consumption of fats in order to keep up energy levels in an active survival scenario, and I can understand a hungry person craving fats (happens to me all the time ). But are there actual reports of people starving to death on a rabbit meat diet that are not merely anecdotal?

Eating rabbit is not harmful - there's no reason to avoid it. Its just that eating rabbit alone is not enough in the long term. According to this article:
http://www.medbio.info/Horn/Time%201-2/vilhjalmur_stefansson1.htm
Your body can only process at most 1600 calories of protein a day, which is a starvation level ration for most people.

So if all you eat is rabbit you will eventually starve to death.

If you don't eat ANYTHING, you will starve to death much faster.

Yes and no. You can convert it to sugars (liver) or fats. The problem is, your body needs certain fats that it can't manufacture. Just like "essential vitamins" that you need to eat, there are a few fats you need to eat.

Thanks, that makes sense.

I wonder if this phenomenon applies equally to domesticated rabbits as well as wild ones?

I guess this means that we should all carry a good supply of candy bars any time we're stepping out our front door.

Sue

I'm with Susan - you better have a side of Dove bars with that rabbit, just in case.


Frank2135

If rabbits do not contain any fat, then what are fat rabbits made of? I've seen some rabbits that need some diet and exercise in my days.



Could it be that rabbits just don't contain certain fats we need to consume, but still contain other fats?

Hmmm...people with no other source of food but rabbits, rabbits with no fat on them...sounds like we're talking the end of a long winter. Lean people eating nothing but lean rabbits = starvation.

Has anyone else heard that if you eat some of the organs (notably eyes, kidneys and liver) and the bone marrow that you can avoid the protein starvation problem? I read something to that effect, not that long ago.

Frank2135