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The Sumatran striped rabbit (''Nesolagus netscheri''), also known as the Sumatra short-eared rabbit or Sumatran rabbit, is a
rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
found only in forests in the
Barisan Mountains The Bukit Barisan or the Barisan Mountains are a mountain range on the western side of Sumatra, Indonesia, covering nearly 1,700 km (1,050 mi) from the north to the south of the island. The Bukit Barisan range consists primarily of volca ...
in western
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, and surrounding areas. It is threatened by
habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
.


Related species

This rabbit was the sole representative of the genus ''
Nesolagus ''Nesolagus'' is a genus of rabbits containing three species of striped rabbit: the Annamite striped rabbit, the Sumatran striped rabbit, and the extinct species ''N. sinensis''. Overall there is very little known about the genus as a whole, mo ...
'' until the
Annamite striped rabbit The Annamite striped rabbit (''Nesolagus timminsi'') is a species of rabbit native to the Annamite mountain range on the Laos-Vietnam border. The rabbit is striped, with a red rump, and resembles the Sumatran striped rabbit. It only recently beca ...
was described in 2000.


Description

The Sumatran striped rabbit weighs 1.5 kg and is between 368 and 417 mm in total length, with a tail 17 mm long, skull length of 67–74 mm, hind foot length of 67–87 mm, and ear length of 34–45 mm. It has black or dark brown stripes on a yellowish grey background that becomes rusty brown towards the rump; the fur on the underparts, on the inside of the legs and below the chin is whitish. The black ears are very short and when folded forward reach only to the eye. The limbs are grey-brown and the rumped tail is reddish. It can be differentiated from ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'', which is sometimes kept in captivity in Sumatra and is of a similar size, by ''Oryctolaguss plain grey-brown fur lacking stripes and slightly longer ears. Their fur is soft and dense, overlaid by longer, harsher hairs.


Biology

As the species is rare,
nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
and found only in remote forests, little is known about it. The local people do not have a name for the Sumatran rabbit because they are not aware that the species even exists. Indeed, the vernacular terminology for "rabbit" is either borrowed from other languages to refer to foreign species of rabbit (''arnab'' from the Arabic and ''kelinci'' from the Dutch word ''konijntje'') or not distinguished to that of
felines The Felinae are a subfamily of the family Felidae. This subfamily comprises the small cats having a bony hyoid, because of which they are able to purr but not roar. Other authors have proposed an alternative definition for this subfamily: as c ...
(''kucing'' e.g. ''kucing belanda'' or ''kucing tapai''). The rabbit rests in the
burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of sh ...
s of other animals. It usually eats the stalk and leaves of
understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...
plants, but captive rabbits eat grain, and tropical fruits.


Habitat and range

This species is said to be
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
and is native to the
Barisan Mountains The Bukit Barisan or the Barisan Mountains are a mountain range on the western side of Sumatra, Indonesia, covering nearly 1,700 km (1,050 mi) from the north to the south of the island. The Bukit Barisan range consists primarily of volca ...
in
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
in north-west Sumatra. It has also been found in west and southwest Sumatra, and there is one record from
Gunung Leuser National Park Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of North Sumatra and Aceh provinces, a fourth portion and three-fourths portion, respectively. The national park, settled ...
. It lives in forests at altitudes of 600–1600 metres above sea level. It is one of the few
lagomorphs The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae ( hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas). The name of the order is derived from the Ancient Greek ''lagos'' (λαΠ...
that chooses to live in the dense rainforest. The Sumatran rabbit also prefers to live more specifically in
montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
forests with volcanic soil.


Threats

The forests which the species inhabits are being cleared more and more for timber, tea and coffee plantations, and human inhabitation.


Observation in the wild

Following a sighting in 1972, the Sumatran striped rabbit went unreported until an individual rabbit was photographed in 2000. Since then there have been three reports of this species, all from the
Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is a national park in Sumatra, Indonesia. The park located along the Bukit Barisan mountain range, has a total area of 3,568 km2, and spans three provinces: Lampung, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra. Together ...
: In January 2007 one was photographed with a
camera trap A camera trap is a camera that is automatically triggered by a change in some activity in its vicinity, like presence of an animal or a human being. It is typically equipped with a motion sensor – usually a passive infrared (PIR) sensor ...
, in September 2008 one was photographed by a WWF scientist, and in June 2009 one was observed. In 2011 examples were photographed in the wild by a scientific team using camera traps in Bukit Barisan Seletan and
Kerinci Seblat National Park Kerinci Seblat National Park is the largest national park on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It has a total area of 13,791 km2, and spans four provinces: West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra. Geography It is located between 1 ...
s. In 2022 a farmer attempted to sell a live striped rabbit, opportunistically caught after a flash flood, on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
. Kerinci Seblat National Park authorities confiscated it and returned it to the wild.


Conservation

The species is listed as Data Deficient by the
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
. It is rarely seen and thought to be uncommon in its habitat; population size is unknown. Its rarity may be the result of deforestation and habitat loss. Attempts to start a conservation plan were not funded due to lack of reliable distribution and abundance information.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18785 Leporidae Mammals of Asia Mammals of Indonesia EDGE species Fauna of Sumatra Mammals described in 1880