Tres Marias rabbit

Appearance

Its fur is rufous, and brightens near the nape and rump areas. The underside and tail is whitish, and there is a brown section present on the throat. The Tres Marias cottontail can be distinguished from the Mexican cottontail by its shorter ears and reddish fur on its sides.

Its adult body length measures from 437 to 480 millimeters (17.2 to 18.9 inches), and it has short ears that measure from 57 to 64 mm (2.2 to 2.5 in). The skull is also of medium size, measuring from 78 to 80 mm (3.1 to 3.1 in).

Range and habitat

Tres Marias rabbit is endemic to the Islas Marías, part of the Mexican state of Nayarit. A late 19th century account of the rabbit noted that it was abundantly found on both María Madre and María Magdalena, but was rarely encountered on María Cleofa. Later accounts found the species on the three northern islands, but not María Cleofa.

Relatively unafraid of humans, the rabbit is the only member of the family Leporidae found on the islands. It prefers the island's dry, tropical forests, and regions with plenty of bushes for cover, that it will rest under for most of the day.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet

It has few predators, with the known native species that feed on it being birds of prey and the Tres Marias raccoon, though it has been threatened by habitat loss due to human developments, as well as browsing by introduced white-tailed deer and goats.

In crisis

The Tres Marias cottontail is considered to be an endangered species by the Mexican government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and population declines have been reported across most of the species' range, with the exception of the island of San Juanito. Tres Marias rabbit is threatened by habitat loss, as parts of its habitat have been repurposed for farms and the Islas Marías Federal Prison. Introduction of non-native species (pigs, white-tailed deer, goats and black rats) to the island has posed a threat to the species, as there is increased competition for resources, that have been degraded by human removal of native plants.

Tres Marias rabbit is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Tres Marias rabbit, Wikidata item Q1762341. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.