Riverine Rabbit

Organism’s Biological and Common Name/s:

The riverine rabbit’s binomial name is Bunolagus monticularis. Though it’s such a rare mammal there are many other names for it as well. Such as: Boshaas, doekvoetjie, vlei haas and Bushman’s hare.

In the 1940’s it was also given another name when a museum in King William’s Town offered a pound per rabbit specimen brought forward. This is why the mammal is sometimes called Pondhaas, which translates to ‘pound rabbit’ directly from Afrikaans.

Classification of the Riverine Rabbit:

The Riverine Rabbit is classified into the Kingdom Animalia, the Phylum Chordata, the Class Mammalia, the Order Lagomorpha, the Family Leporidae, the Genus Bunolagus and the species B. monticularis.They’re also considered one

It is the only indigenous burrowing rabbit in Africa and endemic to Southern Africa.

There are only a few hundred left world-wide, which is why their extinction is highly likely unless immediate action is taken.

There are organisations in place to try and protect them, but it’s become more difficult with poachers, hunters and habitat loss (the main threat to this species) caused by crops and overgrazing.

Habitat:

The Riverine Rabbit is only seen in the semi-desert/arid regions of central and southern Karoo in South Africa. They’re most commonly associated with dry riverbeds and rely on the deep, silt concentrated soils for building stable burrows for living and breeding.

The river-edge plants which they feed on, buchu leaves, inkbush leaves, flowers and sweet grass in summer, remain greener for longer and continue to grow even when they rivers are dry.

They’ve been suffering ever since agriculture took rise in the Karoo.

Niche that the Organism fills:

This particular organism is a herbivore and feeds only on leaves and flowers throughout their

Its ears are about 115 mm in length and the female weighs more than the male by about 0,3kg with the male roughly around 1.5kg.

Riverine rabbits are polygamous even though they live and browse for food solely on their own. They stay in intrasexually exclusive home ranges that overlap with those from various females and they each have a life expectancy of about four years.

Programs/Projects related to the Riverine Rabbit:

Due to the fact that habitat loss has such a great impact on the environment and the habitat of the Riverine rabbits the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Riverine Rabbit Programme is working hard to rectify this.

They’re based off the Karoo town of Loxton. Though small, it works closely with local farmers to save the rabbits by rehabilitating the degraded riverbanks with new suitable plants, providing a benefit to both the rabbits and the river itself.

While conducting research on these rabbits, the Endangered Wildlife Trust observes them through camera traps, activated by motion detectors, and use them to help increase awareness all over the