The Tehuantepec jackrabbit (Lepus flavigularis ) is a jackrabbit endemic to Mexico.
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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CrepuscularCrepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight (that is, the periods of dawn and dusk). This is distinguished from diurnal...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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ZoochoryZoochory animals are those that can disperse plant seeds in several ways. Seeds can be transported on the outside of vertebrate animals (mostly mam...
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PollinatorA pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilizat...
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JumpingJumping (saltation) can be distinguished from running, galloping, and other gaits where the entire body is temporarily airborne by the relatively l...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Among animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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PolygamyPolygamy is the practice of breeding with multiple partners. When a male breeds with more than one female at the same time – it is called polygyny....
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withIt is easily distinguished from other species by two black stripes that run from the base of the ears to the nape, and by its white flanks. Its underparts are white, its upperparts are bright-brown washed with black, the rump is gray, and the tail is black. It is one of the largest jackrabbits and has large ears and legs. Adults weigh about 3.5 to 4 kilograms.
The Tehuantepec jackrabbit is a rare endemic of Oaxaca, Mexico, and is only found along savannas and grassy dunes on the shores of a salt water lagoon connected to the Gulf of Tehuantepec in the Istmo de Tehuantepec region. Three small populations persist isolated from each other.
The former distribution of the Tehuantepec jackrabbit is not documented in detail, but it is estimated that its historic geographic range along the Mexican Pacific Coast on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from Salina Cruz in Oaxaca to Tonalá in Chiapas, an area of perhaps only 5000 square km.
Tropical dry savannas dominated by native grasses (Bouteloua, Paspalum ) with an overstory of sparse bushes of nanche (Byrsonima crassifolia ), and scattered trees of morro (Crescentia ) are selected by the Tehuantepec jackrabbit. The Tehuantepec Jackrabbit is also found in coastal grassy dunes with Opuntia decumbens, Opuntia tehuantepecana, and Sabal mexicana.
Home ranges overlap with one or more individuals regardless of sex and age, and home range size is about 50 ha with core areas of 9 ha for adult jackrabbits. The Tehuantepec jackrabbit is nocturnal and crepuscular, and during the diurnal hours it rests in forms under bushes or grasses.
Native mammals that coexist with the Tehuantepec jackrabbit are the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus ), the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus ), the hooded and western hog-nosed skunks (Mephitis macroura, Conepatus mesoleucus ), the Virginia opossum (Didelphis marsupialis ), the gray mouse opossum (Tlacuatzin canescens ), the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus ), the common raccoon (Procyon lotor ), and the coyote (Canis latrans ). Of these, the gray fox and the coyote are native predators of the Tehuantepec jackrabbit.
The Tehuantepec jackrabbit has a polygynous mating system. The length of the breeding season may extend from February to December, with a peak in reproduction during the rainy season (from May to October). The litter size is one to four embryos, but the number of litters produced per female per year remains to be investigated.
The Tehuantepec jackrabbit is jeopardized by habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, small population size, and genetic isolation. Introduction of exotic grasses, frequent and induced fires, agricultural and cattle-raising activities, and human settlements are deteriorating the floristic diversity and native vegetation structure in savannas inhabited by Tehuantepec jackrabbits. Locally, the Tehuantepec jackrabbit is taken occasionally as subsistence hunting, and very occasionally as pets in rural communities. Predation by the gray fox and the coyote is the major cause of mortality of the jackrabbit. However, poachers may come from nearby cities and decimate populations in a few nights of hunting.
The Tehuantepec jackrabbit is listed as critically endangered in the Mexican Official Norm NOM-059-ECOL-2001, and as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species.
