Sumatran Rabbit

The Sumatran Rabbit is native to the forests of Indonesia and is extremely rare, so rare even that until recently locals didn’t even acknowledge its existence and still have no name for it in their native tongue. This elusive rabbit was though extinct for a long time with no sightings at all since 1930 until an accidental photograph was taken in 1998, since then there has been only one other photograph taken in 2007.  There are none of these Sumatran Rabbit’s in captivity at all, the last one to be studied was in the 1930’s and as such very little is known about them, they are however classed as critically endangered because their habitat is being destroyed by the expanse of locals.

The Sumatran Rabbit has never been studied in the wild and as such very little is known about these stealthy mammals. What we do know about the Sumatran Rabbit is that is is nocturnal which is undoubtedly one of the reasons for it being so elusive and it is adept at camouflaging itself in its habitat.

The very rare Sumatran Rabbit
The very rare Sumatran Rabbit
The very rare Sumatran Rabbit

The Sumatran Rabbit’s diet consists of ground level plants, specifically leaves and stalks which is similar to most rabbits. Even when feeding the Sumatran Rabbit still keeps itself hidden, never venturing out into open land.

In the very unlikely event that you were to come across one of the rare Sumatran Rabbit’s then you should have no problem identifying it by its distinct gray coloring coupled with heavy brown stripes. The Sumatran Rabbit is roughly around the size as a common European rabbit and are very slow moving taking life at a leisurely pace. It differs from other species of rabbit by having smaller ears and a very small, almost indistinguishable tail. Although primarily gray and brown sometimes the hind quarters can be of an almost red color and its underbelly is a soft white.

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