#pygmyrabbit

[amnhnyc]

Meet the smallest rabbit in North America, the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis)! On average, it weighs just under 1 pound (.45 kilograms) with a body length of 11 inches (28 centimeters). The tiny critter has a small range across the northwestern region of the United States, including parts of Montana, Utah, Washington, and California. It inhabits deserts and shrubland and is unusual among North American rabbits for digging its own burrows. Photo: U.S. Government National Park Service, CC0 1.0, Wikimedia Commons #AnimalFacts #pygmyrabbit #rabbit #nature #animals #dyk https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf-eJ_Qt02d/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pnwsaves]

Animal Spotlight: Pygmy Rabbit

This week's Animal Spotlight is on the Pygmy Rabbit! They are the smallest rabbit species in North America and are identified by their short ears and tiny back legs. You can find these creatures hiding in tall sagebrush near water features.

Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

[pnwsaves]

Animal Spotlight: Pygmy Rabbit

The largest threat to the Pygmy Rabbit population is the degredation and destruction of their sagebrush habitats through fires, drought, and human development. In recent years, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have made great efforts to conserve the Pygmy Rabbit population in the PNW. By constructing artifical pens that can be moved to safer locations, their long-term survival rate increased 8-10%, to a total of 40%, in 2021.

Photo by Sarah Arnoff/USFWS

[daisylovesrumble]

petition: The World's Tiniest Rabbits Are Going Extinct and Need Our Help

Sign Petition: The World's Tiniest Rabbits Are Going Extinct and Need Our Help

We must protect these rabbits from climate change. (5943 signatures on petition)

The pygmy rabbit once lived in a 100-million-acre historic range that spanned portions of 13 U.S. states. Today, it exists in only 10% of this range, and even surviving there is getting more difficult.

The main threats to the species' survival are climate change, fossil fuel extraction projects, human construction, and agriculture.