Smith's red rockhare,
Smith's red rock hare
or Smith's red rock rabbit
(''Pronolagus rupestris'') is a species of
mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
in the family
Leporidae
Leporidae () is the family of rabbits and hares, containing over 70 species of extant mammals in all. The family name comes from "Lepus", hare in Latin. Together with the pikas, the Leporidae constitute the mammalian order Lagomorpha. Leporidae ...
(rabbits and hares), and is the smallest member of the
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''
Pronolagus''. The
upperparts and gular collar are reddish brown in colour. It has warm, brown, grizzled, thicker hairs at the back of the body, and white to tawny, thinner
underfur
A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...
. It is native to Africa, found in parts of
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
(
Rift Valley
A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...
),
Lesotho
Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
,
Malawi
Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...
,
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...
, South Africa (
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...
,
Free State, and
North West),
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
,
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
and
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
. It is a
folivore
In zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less energy than other types of foods, and often toxic compounds.Jones, S., Martin, R., & Pilbeam, D. (1 ...
, and usually forages on grasses (such as sprouting grass), shrubs and herbs. It breeds from September to February, and the female litters one or two offspring. The young leave the nest at three years of age. In 1996, it was rated as a species of
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
on the
IUCN Red List of Endangered Species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...
.
Taxonomy
Scottish
zoologist
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...
Andrew Smith first described the Smith's red rock hare in the year 1834.
It was originally described in the genus ''Lepus
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...
'', and was formerly included in Natal red rock hare ( ''P. crassicaudatus''). They are commonly known as rock rabbits in Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
. In Swahili, its name is ''sungura mwekundu'' or ''kitengule''.
The number of accepted subspecies has ranged from zero to eight. One classification from the 1940s accepted the following subspecies:
* ''P. r. rupestris''
* ''P. r. melanurus''
* ''P. r. nyikae''
* ''P. r. curryi''
* ''P. r. saundersiae''
* ''P. r. australis''
* ''P. r. mulleri''
* ''P. r. whitei''
* ''P. r. barretti''
Another classification from the 1980s had the following subspecies; differences came from moving ''whitei'' to ''P. randensis'', including ''fitzsimonsi'', and treating ''mulleri'' as a synonym of ''australis'':
* ''P. r. rupestris''
* ''P. r. melanurus''
* ''P. r. curryi''
* ''P. r. saundersiae''
* ''P. r. australis''
* ''P. r. fitzsimonsi''
* ''P. r. barbetti''
In the third edition of ''Mammal Species of the World
''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' is a standard reference work in mammalogy giving descriptions and Bibliographic database, bibliographic data for the known species of mammals. It is now in its third edition, ...
'' published in 2005, R. S. Hoffman and A. T. Smith listed Smith's red rock hare (''Pronolagus rupestris'') as a separate species and included five subspecies.[
The taxonomic status of the east African Smith's red rock hare is uncertain. It is treated ]conspecific
Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species.
Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...
with the southern African ''P. rupestris''. A paper looking at mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...
argued that ''P. r. curryi'' is the only non-nominate subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...
.[ '' Mammals of Africa'' does not recognize any subspecies and rather that ''curryi'', ''fitzsimonsi'', ''melanurus'', ''mülleri'', ''nyikae'', and ''vallicola'' are all just synonyms of ''P. rupestris''.]
Description
The Smith's red rock hare is the smallest member of the genus '' Pronolagus'', measuring in length from head to tail, having a long bushy, dark to reddish brown tail
The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...
with a black tip, and weighing . The upperparts and gular collar are reddish brown in color. The ears are grey, measuring in length, and the hindfeet measure in length. It has a brownish forehead, with greyish buff cheeks. The sides of the face are gray, and the nuchal patch is reddish brown. It has pinkish buff coloured underparts, and some white in the mid-line of the abdomen. The hind legs and rump are bright reddish brown. It has warm, brown, grizzled, thicker hairs at the back of the body, and white to tawny, thinner underfur
A fur is a soft, thick growth of hair that covers the skin of almost all mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an ...
. The feet pads are covered by dense, greasy fur. The digits and claws are short and broad, and the limbs are russet, and the frontal bone
In the human skull, the frontal bone or sincipital bone is an unpaired bone which consists of two portions.'' Gray's Anatomy'' (1918) These are the vertically oriented squamous part, and the horizontally oriented orbital part, making up the bo ...
measures almost the same as the snout
A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum, beak or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the n ...
. Possibly due to its diet, its flesh is aromatic.
It is similar to the Jameson's red rock hare ( ''P. randensis'') which has shorter ears and a longer tail, and the Hewitt's red rock hare ( ''P. saundersiae'') which has a shorter snout bone than the frontal bone. (The latter is regarded as ''P. r. saundersiae'' by some authorities.[)
]
Distribution and habitat
The Smith's red rock hare is native to Africa, found in parts of Kenya (Rift Valley
A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...
), Lesotho, Malawi, eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa (Northern Cape
The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...
, Free State, and North West), Tanzania, and Zambia. It occurs on rocky slopes and tops of rocky outcrops, in stony countries where grass, rocks, and bush are intermingled. It inhabits ravines with boulders, hillsides, slabs of stones, and rock creaks which provide cover from predators.
Behaviour and ecology
While a nocturnal
Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatur ...
species, Smith's red rock hare occasionally comes out during early morning or late afternoon in places where it is not hunted. It is alert at most times, and usually hides prior to being seen. It can also exhibit rapid, startling manoeuvres which are depicted when chased by dogs. The Smith's red rock is observed to vocalize a series of loud, startling screams when running away at night, possibly to scare away predators or to warn other members of the species of potential threat. Despite not being restrained or in pain, it is known to produce shrill voices, contrary to most other leporids. The juvenile can produce ''churring'' sounds when caught in hand, and the adult can produce a ''barking'' sound when disturbed before sunrise.
It is a folivore
In zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less energy than other types of foods, and often toxic compounds.Jones, S., Martin, R., & Pilbeam, D. (1 ...
, and usually forages on grasses (such as sprouting grass), shrubs, and herbs. The Smith's red rock hare breeds from September to February. The female makes a nest out of vegetable debris lined with its fur. The nest is about wide, length, and deep. The female has a gestation period of about one month, and litters one or two children, each weighing . The young are altricial
Precocial species in birds and mammals are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. They are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching. Altricial ...
at birth, and leave the nest at three years of age, when they weigh about . Although observed to be secluded, the Smith's red rock hare associate closely with dassies.
Conservation
Since 1996, the Smith's red rock hare has been rated as a species of 'least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
' on the ''IUCN Red List of Endangered Species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...
''. This is because it is common in parts of its range in South Africa, has a large range—more than —and because its population numbers above 10,000 mature individuals in South Africa alone. Even though the state of the overall population is unclear, it is widespread, and characterized as abundant in Kuruman and Springbok
The springbok or springbuck (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is an antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first Species description, described by the Germa ...
. There is no data about the status of its east African range.
Hunting poses a threat to the species and, although not considered to be a severe threat, it is also adversely affected from habitat destruction due to the building of houses on rocky outcrops. Since the 1900s to 2000, more than 20% habitat loss has occurred, and if the habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
would have continued at this same rate till 2022, its population decline in South Africa was predicted in 2004 to become greater than 10%. It occurs in provincial parks, national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
s, and wildlife refuge
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...
s in South Africa, and is also protected as a game species by provincial nature conservation agencies, seasonally.
It occurs in Lavushi Manda National Park in Zambia.[
]
References
External links
*
*
{{Good article
Pronolagus
Mammals described in 1834
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist)