Sumatran striped rabbit

Sumatran striped rabbit[1]
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Genus: Nesolagus
Species: N. netscheri
Binomial name
Nesolagus netscheri
(Schlegel, 1880)
Sumatran striped rabbit range

The Sumatran striped rabbit (Nesolagus netscheri), also known as the Sumatra short-eared rabbit or Sumatran rabbit, is a rabbit found only in forests in the Barisan Mountains in western Sumatra, Indonesia and surrounding areas. It is threatened by habitat loss, leading the IUCN to rate it as Vulnerable.[2]

Description

The Sumatran striped rabbit is usually about 40 cm (1 ft, 4 in) long, with tails 17mm long.[3] It is black with brown stripes, with a red tail and rump, and the underside is white. Their fur is soft and dense, overlaid by longer, harsher hairs.[4]

Biology

Incredibly rare, nocturnal and found only in remote forests, little is known about the species. The local people do not have a name for the Sumatran Rabbit because they are not aware it even exists.[5] The rabbit rests in the burrows of other animals. It usually eats the stalk and leaves of understory plants, but captive rabbits eat grain, and tropical fruits.[6]

Habitat and range

This species is said to be endemic and is native to the Barisan Mountains in Sumatra, Indonesia in north-west Sumatra. It has also been found in west and southwest Sumatra, and there is one record from Gunung Leuser National Park.[5] It lives in forests at altitudes of 600–1600 metres above sea level. It is one of the few lagomorphs that chooses to live in the dense rainforest. The Sumatran rabbit also prefers to live more specifically in montane forests with volcanic soil.[5]

Threats

The forests which the species inhabits are being cleared more and more for timber, tea and coffee plantations, and human inhabitation. The unusual surge of immigrants coming from the Indonesian island of Java has also increased the rate of disappearance of the species' habitat.[5]

Observation in the wild

Following a sighting in 1972, the Sumatran striped rabbit went unreported until an individual rabbit was photographed in 2000.[2] Since then there have been three reports of this species, all from the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park: In January 2007 one was photographed with a camera trap,[7][8] in September 2008 one was photographed by a WWF scientist,[9] and in June 2009 one was observed.[10] In 2011 examples were photographed in the wild by a scientific team using camera traps in Bukit Barisan Seletan and Kerinci Seblat National Parks.[11]

Conservation

Nesolagus is listed as "indeterminate" by the IUCN and is "...apparently the rarest lagomorph. About a dozen museum specimens exist, collected between 1880 and 1916, and there has been only one confirmed sighting since then, in 1972." The rarity of Nesolagus may be the result of deforestation and habitat loss.[12] Apparently plans were made to start a conservation plan, but it was never funded since "discovery and protection of a population of rabbits is necessary for conservation, and surveys of the distribution of the rabbit and its presence in reserves and private land". We don't have access to that information, so the plans never went through.[13]

Related species

This rabbit was the sole representative of the genus Nesolagus until the Annamite striped rabbit was discovered in the Annamite Mountains between Laos and Vietnam.

References

  1. ↑ Hoffman, R. S.; Smith, A. T. (2005). "Order Lagomorpha". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Meijaard E & Sugardjito J (2008). Nesolagus netscheri. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2009-01-22. Listed as Vulnerable B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v) ver 3.1
  3. ↑ Macdonald, Dr. David (1993). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Fact on File, Inc. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
  4. ↑ Nowak, Ronald M. (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World (Sixth ed.). Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkinds University Press. p. 1723. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Flux, J.E.C. (1990). "The Sumatran Rabbit Nesolagus netscheri". Rabbits, Hares, and Pikas: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.
  6. ↑ Gorog, Antonia. "Animal Diversity Web: Nesolagus netscheri". University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  7. ↑ "Striped rabbit spotted in Sumatra". BBC News. 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  8. ↑ "World's rarest rabbit captured on film in Indonesian rainforest". Mongabay.com. 2007-04-14. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  9. ↑ WWF Save Sumatra (2009) Rare rabbit species directly photographed. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  10. ↑ Dinets, V. (2010). "Observation of Sumatran striped rabbit (Nesolagus nescheri) in the wild". Mammalia 74: 1. doi:10.1515/mamm.2009.074.
  11. ↑ Jennifer L. McCarthy; Todd K. Fuller, Kyle P. McCarthy, Hariyo T. Wibisono and Mark C. Livolsi. "Using camera trap photos and direct sightings to identify possible refugia for the Vulnerable Sumatran striped rabbit Nesolagus netscheri". Oryx: The International Journal of Conservation.
  12. ↑ Meijaard, E.; Sugardito, J. (2008). "IUCN Nesolagus netscheri - Sumatran Striped Rabbit". IUCN.
  13. ↑ Flux, J.E.C. (1990). "The Sumatran Rabbit Nesolagus netscheri". Rabbits, Hares, and Pikas: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.