Tehuantepec jackrabbit

The Tehuantepec jackrabbit, Lepus flavigularis, is a medium-sized hare endemic to eastern Oaxaca, Mexico. It survives in three separated populations on grassy dunes and savannas around the salt water lagoons of the Gulf of Tehuantepec, feeds mainly on grasses, and is not territorial. It is most active at night, spending the day resting on beds of grass or shrubs or under nopales. Females breed for most of the year, from February to December, and predators include snakes, dogs, cats, coyotes and gray foxes. It is the most endangered of the hares, with fewer than 300 mature individuals estimated in 2019, and is threatened by poaching, habitat loss and fragmentation, a small population and genetic isolation. The IUCN and local authorities in Mexico both recognise it as endangered, and monitoring and conservation actions are under way.