12/25/2023 0 Comments Trading post find the rabbit![]() We can add the Sumatran striped rabbit to the growing list of species-from sun bears and Sunda pangolins to Malay tapirs and helmeted hornbills-that are benefiting from the work of FFI and our local partners in this extraordinary wildlife haven. Over the years, these crack teams have covered a cumulative distance of over 30,000 kilometers and removed thousands of snares-often detected using information from supportive forest-edge farmers. In that regard, the routine and intelligence-led forest patrols conducted by the Tiger Protection & Conservation Units as part of their anti-poaching activities have a crucial role to play. However, that doesn't preclude it from being caught in snares set for other species as it forages on the forest floor. It is evidently not a frequent victim of hunting or the pet trade, owing to its natural rarity, largely nocturnal habits and, apparently, the unpleasant taste of its meat. Kerinci Seblat National Park appears to be one of the last remaining strongholds of this forest-dependent species. Habitat loss and fragmentation pose by far the most significant threat to the survival of the Sumatran striped rabbit. The two species share many other common characteristics, most notably that their futures are hanging by a thread. Discovered as recently as 1996 and named after the mountain range on the Laos-Vietnam border where it was first found, this species has also been captured on camera by FFI in recent years. Its mainland counterpart and closest surviving relative-from which it is thought to have diverged around eight million years ago-is the Annamite striped rabbit. ![]() It is one of only two species in the Nesolagus genus. The Sumatran striped rabbit is categorized as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List. This image, captured in 1997, was the first ever photograph of the species in the wild. It seemed very relaxed."'īy a strange quirk of fate, a nocturnal snapshot of a Sumatran striped rabbit (main picture) was recently included in a magazine feature showcasing some of FFI's historical camera-trapping successes, not only in Sumatra but across the globe. Credit: KSNPįor Herizal, a community ranger with one of the Tiger Protection & Conservation Units and a member of the release team, this was the first time he had seen a striped rabbit despite more than eight years of patrolling deep in the national park: "It's always good to release animals back into the wild-and this was much less stressful than releasing a tiger! We let it go and it looked around-and then started eating leaves. It had a slight injury to its flank-possibly sustained during the flash flood-but has now been safely released back into the forest by the park rangers, at a site chosen on the basis of existing camera trap data. It is understood that the rabbit was captured opportunistically by a local farmer who encountered it at the edge of the national park next to a river that had just flooded violently. The only specimens from Sumatra date back to the Dutch colonial period-and are in the Netherlands, not Indonesia." She is in no doubt about the enormous scientific significance of this unexpected opportunity to eyeball such an elusive species: "Very little is known about this animal, other than that it shows a marked preference for mossy hill and submontane forest. People so often forget this park also protects rare species like the Sumatran striped rabbit and its habitat we have the highest peat swamp forests in Asia, for instance-and amazing moss forests."įFI's Deborah Martyr, who advises the park's Tiger Protection & Conservation Units, is one of the few people fortunate enough to have experienced a close encounter with a Sumatran striped rabbit in the wild. Finding one flaunted on Facebook is the Indonesian equivalent of stumbling upon a thylacine in a Tasmanian pet shop, and the conservation community was quick to respond.Īfter receiving a tip-off about the Facebook post, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and the Kerinci Seblat National Park authorities quickly tracked down the would-be seller and rescued the priceless rabbit, which was held in safe custody until it was ready to be released.ĭirector of the national park, Tamen Sitorus, said: "While Kerinci Seblat is world famous for its biodiversity, it is the larger charismatic animals like tigers, elephants and helmeted hornbills that usually make the headlines. Known only from a dozen Dutch museum specimens collected in the early 20th century, plus an occasional sighting in the wild and a handful of camera trap images, the species is widely considered to be the rarest rabbit in the world. Sumatran striped rabbits are seldom spotted, in either sense of the word.
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