WSU Research Featured in National Geographic

PULLMAN, Wash.–A brief update on multi-agency efforts to save the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit from extinction is featured in the Jan. 2008 issue of National Geographic. 

Washington State University has been the lead research institution for the project and site of one three captive breeding programs. A small number of rabbits were released in March but most were lost to predators. 

The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is a long-isolated, genetically unique population of small rabbits. Similar pygmy rabbits are found in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada and California. The Washington rabbits were on the verge of extinction when they were listed as a federal endangered species in 2003. 

The animals’ decline followed a loss of habitat, habitat degradation and fragmentation of remaining sagebrush ecosystems as the land was converted into farms, ranches and urban development over the past 50 years.  

When the wild population of Columbia Basin rabbits plummeted to less than 40 in 2001, the last rabbits were captured and sent to three facilities to begin a captive breeding program.  

Future releases in the wild will depend on how quickly reproductive issues can be solved and the captive population can be increased substantially, according to Rod Sayler and Lisa Shipley, associate professors in Natural Resource Sciences.  

The project has been funded by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and money resulting from the federal Endangered Species Act.  

A life-size image of Ivan, a two-year old pygmy rabbit born at WSU, is featured in the National Geographic article.