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Conservation of Endangered Lagomorphs

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Lagomorph Biology

There is a widely held perception that all lagomorphs are fecund (“they breed like rabbits”) and are sufficiently generalist in their ecology such that they can be considered amply buffered from environmental change and thus be unlikely candidates to appear on lists of threatened species. It is true that many lagomorph species fit this perception; indeed some of the most important game animals in the world are lagomorphs, such as the European rabbit and many cottontail and hare species. However, the generalization is untrue for a surprising number of lagomorphs. Approximately a quarter of all lagomorphs are threatened with extinction (nearly the same percentage as for all mammal species; Baillie et al. 2004). In this chapter I will review the historical treatment of threatened lagomorphs, outline the current threatened (global Red List status) of lagomorphs, and highlight ongoing proactive conservation measures being taken to ensure that we can preserve the important and rich diversity of lagomorphs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, 874501, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA

    Andrew T. Smith

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  1. CIBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661, Vairão, Vila do Conde, Portugal

    Paulo C. Alves (Faculdade de Ciências) & Nuno Ferrand (Faculdade de Ciências) (Faculdade de Ciências) &  (Faculdade de Ciências)

  2. Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Str. 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria

    Klaus Hackländer

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Smith, A.T. (2008). Conservation of Endangered Lagomorphs. In: Alves, P.C., Ferrand, N., Hackländer, K. (eds) Lagomorph Biology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72446-9_20

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