Mammal Of The Month (February)!

This month’s mammal is a little wacky; one of its survival methods is to bury its children!

Hidden on a few islands south of Japan, lays this month’s ancient mammal. Hidden deep within the crevices and caves it calls home, the amami rabbit lies in waiting for the cool nights it spends hunting for plant matter to eat.

But not all is safe for these rabbits, predators could be lurking anywhere, and they are helpless without a good jump. They have no one to rely on, and will have to be lucky to leave the endangered list.

Black as the night itself, a mother creeps around, following a path they’ve walked the nights before. In a few moments, they dig up a hidden tunnel from which their kits emerge to feed. In a few weeks, they’ll leave this tunnel to scavenge and, eventually, to find their own homes.

Their nocturnal camouflage hasn’t saved them yet, as more and more introduced predators such as pets lower their numbers. Human settlements blot their islands and leave them nowhere to run but towards extinction.

See you next month for another mammal.