Colours of Wildlife: Smith's Red Rock Rabbit
Created | Updated Jan 4, 2015
Smith's Red Rock Rabbit
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
This time I have for you a fluffy bunny-wunny! This is a Smith's Red Rock Rabbit, Pronolagus rupestris. Actually it might be a Hewitt's Red Rock Rabbit. Recent investigations indicate that the South African part of what was considered to be this species might constitute a different species. In this case, the Smith's Red Rock Rabbit would occur only in Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya, while the ones here in South Africa would be the Hewitt's Red Rock Rabbit, Pronolagus saundersiae. The one I drew is the one that occurs over here, whether it be called Hewitt's or Smith's.
The red rock rabbits, genus Pronolagus, are a group of little-known members of the Hare family, the Leporidae. The other species of rock rabbit only occur in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and southern Angola. The three (or four) red rock rabbit species are very similar, so my illustration could pretty much represent any of them. They are chunky rabbit-like animals covered in dense fur, with especially prominent bushy tails. It is not clear whether they are more closely related to rabbits or to hares. Their large ears are hare-like, but they give birth to blind, almost naked, helpless young in secluded shelters like rabbits do. At any rate, they are not at all closely related to hyraxes, which are sometimes called rock rabbits although they're more closely related to elephants. Also, rabbits and hares (and pikas) are not rodents, but in the related order called the Lagomorphs or hare-forms.
Life on the Rocks
I've only seen brief glimpses of red rock rabbits while I was climbing mountains. They leap and dodge amidst the rocks and boulders, and your main impression of them is of big balls of fur with a big, puffed-up fluffy tail at the end. The Hewitt's (or Smith's) red rock rabbits are fairly small, reaching 1.5-2 kg/3-4.5 lbs in weight. Their fur, brownish or grizzled greyish, with reddish-brown patches, gives them good camouflage between the rocks. They are shy and at any disturbance will dash off for cover. They are not as fast as hares, and don't have much endurance, but they are very manoeuvrable, and will dodge in between rocks and boulders faster than any predator is likely to follow. They can run up very steep slopes. They'll finally dive into cracks or small hollows between the rocks where they'll be safe.
Their dependence on suitable rocky terrain means that red rock rabbits have patchy distributions. Here in Southern Africa, a lot of the land is plains, with ranges of hills and mountains every here and there. There are thousands of small, isolated hills called 'koppies' or 'little heads'. Red rock rabbits can use terrain of even low hills, provided there are enough large rocks and boulders to provide them with shelter. They are therefore found on the hills but not on the flat land in between. They are also present in some river gorges where the erosion effect of the rivers have exposed boulders on their banks and in their beds. So, red rock rabbits inhabit these small patches of suitable terrain, but avoid the open flat expanses of plain. But they must have crossed significant areas of plains in the past, so as to colonise all the patches of suitable habitat! I'd like to know how they did that …
Another factor in their habitat preference is temperature. Red rock rabbits are found only in the cooler areas of Africa, such as the temperate south, and in more tropical regions are confined to cool highlands.
Apart from access to sheltering rocks, red rock rabbits also need access to food. They don't need much. They eat grass, and a little of that goes a long way. This species is even found in the harsh, semi-desert to desert landscape of the Karoo, which covers most of the southern half of South Africa. Grass sprouts out after rains, which in the Karoo is very unpredictable. In moister regions, fresh grass is available at most times. Red rock rabbits especially enjoy feeding on grass sprouting after a bush fire. They themselves will be safe from the fire in their rocky shelters.
These rabbits are active mostly at night. During the day, they will rest in the shade of overhanging rocks, or stay deep within rock crevices. At sundown they will move out to graze. They never move very far away from the shelter of rocks or dense shrubs, and have a remarkable way of dashing back to cover and blending into the shadows at the lightest disturbance. Although they eat mainly grass, they will supplement this with various herbs. Although they feed mostly on their own, they usually occur in small colonies. Extensive rocky terrain, such as the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe, can host large numbers of them. They defecate in specific spots called latrines or middens, which also serve to indicate their territories.
Very little is known about the reproduction of red rock rabbits. The nests might be made in hollows between rocks or at the bases of trees, and are lined with leaves and the mother's fur, which she plucks out with her teeth (not all of it though!) to make a soft bed for her babies. The one or two kittens seem to be born almost naked, blind and helpless, and staying in the nest until they are half to three quarters grown. The babies appear to be born mostly in the warm, wet, summer months.
Predators on red rock rabbits include wild cats, jackals, leopards, eagles, large snakes, and also humans. Though they are often caught for food, they are scientifically very poorly known. Overall, they are not currently considered to be endangered. But colonies living in very small patches of suitable habitat are very vulnerable. These are at any rate very cute and charming animals which deserve to be better protected and appreciated.
