Pronolagus randensisJameson's red rockhare

Ge­o­graphic Range

Jame­son’s red rock hares are na­tive to south­ern Africa in two dis­junct areas. Their east­ern dis­tri­b­u­tion is from the south­ern part of the North­west Province of South Africa into the south­east­ern edge of Botswana and to an area north of Harare and east of Mu­tare in Zim­babwe. Their west­ern dis­tri­b­u­tion is from south of Re­hoboth in Namibia to the Kunene River, with a mar­ginal dis­tri­b­u­tion into An­gola. Jame­son’s red rock hares are found in these two areas be­cause of their spe­cific rocky habi­tat re­quire­ments. (King­don and Hap­pold, 2013; Skin­ner and Chim­imba, 2006)

Habi­tat

All mem­bers of the genus Prono­la­gus live in kop­jes, which are rocky out­crops found in higher el­e­va­tions such as hill­tops and rocky cav­erns. Jame­son’s red rock hares tend to stay close to their bur­rows. How­ever, east­ern pop­u­la­tions live in se­cluded kop­jes and have to travel up to 20 km to reach the other kop­jes. When mul­ti­ple Prono­la­gus species oc­cupy the same kop­jes, P. ran­den­sis tends to oc­cupy the lower por­tion of the kopje whereas the other species in­hab­its the upper por­tion of the kopje (Ped­die 1975, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990). (Duthie and Robin­son, 1990; Irish, 1988; Skin­ner and Chim­imba, 2006)

  • Other Habitat Features
  • caves

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

P. ran­den­sis can reach up to 2.3 kg. This species pos­sesses silky hair that tends to be dark brown to­wards the neck and a lighter shade of brown to­wards the tail. The ven­tral side of this species is light brown, also pro­gres­sively get­ting lighter to­wards the hind-feet. The neck has a char­ac­ter­is­tic white color and the cheeks are grey­ish. The ears lack dense amounts of hair and can have black tips. The tail is auburn with a dis­tin­guish­ing black tip. To dis­tin­guish be­tween the three species in this genus sev­eral di­ag­nos­tic char­ac­ters are looked at in­clud­ing the size of the hare, hind­foot and ear mea­sure­ments, as well as their spe­cific lo­ca­tion. Smith's red rock hare (P. ru­pestris) is the small­est of the Prono­la­gus species. P. cras­si­cau­da­tus' (Natal red rock hare) and P. ran­den­sis' skull length is on av­er­age 85.5-96.3mm, whereas P. ru­pestris' skull is on av­er­age 82.4mm long. P. ran­den­sis dif­fers from P. cras­si­cau­da­tus when ob­serv­ing the pelage. P. ran­den­sis has a soft pelage and P. cras­si­cau­da­tus has a more rough pelage. The hind­foot is also com­pared in the three species: P. ran­den­sis - 100mm, P. cras­si­cau­da­tus - 112mm, and P. ru­pestris - 92mm. (King­don and Hap­pold, 2013; Skin­ner and Chim­imba, 2006)

  • Range mass
    1.8 to 2.3 kg
    3.96 to 5.07 lb
  • Range length
    420 to 500 mm
    16.54 to 19.69 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Lit­tle to noth­ing is known about the mat­ing sys­tems in the genus Prono­la­gus. Ob­ser­va­tions show sev­eral males visit the fe­male while she is going through es­trus, but no mat­ing be­hav­iors have been recorded (Smithers 1983, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990).

Lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is known about re­pro­duc­tion in the genus Prono­la­gus. This species breeds an­nu­ally with the mother giv­ing birth from one to two al­tri­cial young in the pro­tec­tive rocky kopje (Ped­die 1975, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990). (Duthie and Robin­son, 1990; Skin­ner and Chim­imba, 2006)

  • Range number of offspring
    1 to 2
  • Average number of offspring
    1.1

Lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is known about this species’ parental care. Stud­ies show fe­males be­come preg­nant in the months of Jan­u­ary, July and Au­gust and lac­tate in June, July and Au­gust. Young are prob­a­bly al­tri­cial. (Duthie and Robin­son, 1990; Skin­ner and Chim­imba, 2006)

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The lifes­pan of P. ran­den­sis is un­known, but hare lifes­pans are known to range from less than one year and up to four­teen years. (Feld­hamer, et al., 2003)

Be­hav­ior

Dur­ing the day, P. ran­den­sis re­mains in its kopje sleep­ing and avoid­ing the hot tem­per­a­tures of the African plains. How­ever, sun­bathing has been ob­served dur­ing the day, which is con­sid­ered an ab­nor­mal be­hav­iour. P. ran­den­sis con­cen­trates its ex­cre­ment in la­trines, but are also known to defe­cate around their rocky crevice. Under the cover of dark­ness P. ran­den­sis leaves its rocky den to graze on the sur­round­ing veg­e­ta­tion near the species’ den, avoid­ing areas with dense veg­e­ta­tion. Even in cap­tiv­ity mem­bers of Prono­la­gus are soli­tary feed­ers. This species is ca­pa­ble of reach­ing re­mote crevices by jump­ing from rock to rock and climb­ing steep cliff sides. P. ran­den­sis is a soli­tary hare; how­ever, groups of the same species have been seen to­gether, likely when a fe­male is in es­trous are males are at­tracted to her (Ped­die 1975, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990). (Duthie and Robin­son, 1990; King­don and Hap­pold, 2013; Skin­ner and Chim­imba, 2006)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

P. ran­den­sis is known to use high pitch vo­cal­iz­ing calls dur­ing the night while out feed­ing. P. ran­den­sis makes loud scream­ing vo­cal­iza­tions that are in re­sponse to dan­ger or when star­tled. Also, the ju­ve­niles in this species make a low purring sound when trapped (Roberts, 1951 in Ped­die 1975).

Food Habits

P. ran­den­sis feeds pri­mar­ily on grasses, and prefers to graze on new grass shoots lo­cated close to its refuge in the rocks. This species has been ob­served ven­tur­ing away from its crevice when the amount of food has de­creased in this small ra­dius. P. ran­den­sis is often found con­gre­gated in re­cently burned areas feed­ing on the new grass shoots. Stud­ies shows nearly all of the sub­stances lo­cated in P. ran­desis’ fae­ces con­sist of mono­cotyle­dons, such as Het­ero­pogon con­tor­tus, Is­chaemum afrum, Themeda trian­dra and Hy­par­rhe­nia species. Like other hares P. ran­den­sis is co­prophagous in order to gain as many nu­tri­ents from its diet as pos­si­ble (Ped­die 1975, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990). (Duthie and Robin­son, 1990; Stew­art, 2008)

  • Plant Foods
  • leaves
  • Other Foods
  • dung

Pre­da­tion

P. ran­den­sis’ known preda­tors are leop­ards (Pan­thera par­dus) and avian rap­tors, which in­clude Cape ea­gle-owls (Bubo capen­sis) and Ver­reaux's ea­gles (Aquila ver­reauxii). This species avoids these preda­tors by re­main­ing close to its rocky shel­ters. This species uses cryp­sis and its sur­round­ing en­vi­ron­ment to avoid preda­tors These hares also avoid dense aeral cover, per­haps to en­sure that they can see preda­tors be­fore they get to close (Ped­die 1975, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990). (Duthie and Robin­son, 1990)

  • Anti-predator Adaptations
  • cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Lit­tle is known about the roles this species plays in the en­vi­ron­ment. P. ran­den­sis is a prey item for sev­eral avian preda­tors and may im­pact plant com­mu­ni­ties by their graz­ing be­hav­ior (Ped­die 1975, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990). (Duthie and Robin­son, 1990)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

There are no known pos­i­tive ef­fects of P. ran­den­sis on hu­mans.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known neg­a­tive ef­fects of P. ran­den­sis on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

P. ran­den­sis’ pop­u­la­tions are abun­dant in the South African wildlife refuges and con­ser­va­tion areas due to the species pro­tec­tion poli­cies in those areas. How­ever, habi­tat frag­men­ta­tion can limit this species (Ped­die 1975, in Duthie & Robin­son 1990). (; Duthie and Robin­son, 1990)

Con­trib­u­tors

Riley Bar­tel (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Man­i­toba, Jane Wa­ter­man (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Man­i­toba, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Ethiopian

living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cryptic

having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect.

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

folivore

an animal that mainly eats leaves.

herbivore

An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

nocturnal

active during the night

saltatorial

specialized for leaping or bounding locomotion; jumps or hops.

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

solitary

lives alone

tactile

uses touch to communicate

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

visual

uses sight to communicate

year-round breeding

breeding takes place throughout the year

Ref­er­ences

Duthie, A., T. Robin­son. 1990. Chap­ter 8: The African Rab­bits. Pp. 121-127 in J Chap­man, J Flux, eds. Rab­bits, Hares and Pikas: Sta­tus Sur­vey and Con­ser­va­tion Ac­tion Plan. Gland, Switzer­land: In­ter­na­tional Union for the Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture.

Feld­hamer, G., B. Thomp­son, J. Chap­man. 2003. Wild Mam­mals of North Amer­ica. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Irish, J. 1988. An in­ci­dence of troglox­eny in Prono­la­gus ran­den­sis Jame­son in south­ern Africa (Lago­mor­pha: Lep­ori­dae). Cim­be­ba­sia, 10: 149-150.

King­don, J., D. Hap­pold. 2013. Mam­mals of Africa: Vol­ume III. Lon­don: Blooms­bury Pub­lish­ing.

Skin­ner, J., C. Chim­imba. 2006. The mam­mals of the South­ern African Sub-re­gion. Cam­bridge: Cam­bridge Uni­ver­sity Press.

Stew­art, D. 2008. Food pref­er­ences of Prono­la­gus. African Jour­nal of Ecol­ogy, Vol 9 Issue 1: 163.