Sumatran Rabbit – The Only Striped Rabbit

Sumatran Rabbit – The Only Striped Rabbit

striped

 

The only rabbit to have a striped coat, the Sumatran rabbit, has tan or gray underparts with dark brown stripes. One stripe runs from the tip of its nose down its back to the tail. It has a tiny tail, short ears, and some reddish coloring on the backside. It is about 16 inches (40 cm) long.

 

rabbit drawing

 

The rabbits were once very abundant in the region (Sumatra, Indonesia) but now because of large scale agriculture they have lost a lot of their forest habitat and are considered a species vunerable to extinction. The population numbers are not known exactly and individuals have only been caught a few times on film recently in the wild when scientists set up a camera trap in the forest of a National Park in Indonesia.

 

 short eared head

 

The Sumatran rabbit is nocturnal and spends most of the day resting in a burrow. They prefer to look for a nice burrow rather than make their own. They eat the tender shoots of forest plants and some leaves.

 

sumatran rabbit trip camera