It is hard to guess what a Volcano rabbit weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Volcano rabbit (Romerolagus diazi) on average weights 465 grams (1.03 lbs).
The Volcano rabbit is from the family Leporidae (genus: Romerolagus). It is usually born with about 25 grams (0.06 lbs). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 29.7 cm (1′ 0″). Usually, Volcano rabbits have 2 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The volcano rabbit (Romerolagus diazi), also known as teporingo or zacatuche, is a small rabbit that resides in the mountains of Mexico. It is the world’s second-smallest rabbit, second only to the pygmy rabbit. It has small rounded ears, short legs, and short, thick fur and weighs approximately 390–600 g (0.86–1.3 lb). It has a life span of 7 to 9 years. The volcano rabbit lives in groups of 2 to 5 animals in burrows (underground nests) and runways among grass tussocks. The burrows can be as long as 5 m and as deep as 40 cm. There are usually 2 to 3 young per litter, born in the burrows. In semi-captivity, however, they do not make burrows and the young are born in nests made in the grass tussocks.Unlike many species of rabbits (and similar to pikas), the volcano rabbit emits very high-pitched sounds instead of thumping its feet on the ground to warn other rabbits of danger. It is crepuscular and is highly active during twilight, dawn and all times in between. Populations have been estimated to have approximately 150–200 colonies with a total population of 1,200 individuals over their entire range. The last unconfirmed sighting of the species at Nevado de Toluca (where no permanent colony has been historically documented) occurred in August 2003 when supposedly one volcano rabbit was observed. Since 1987, however, research conducted by Hoth et al., in relation to the distribution of the Volcano Rabbit already found no records of this species in the Nevado de Toluca, including the site where Tikul Álvarez (IPN) collected a specimen in 1975 (Nevado de Toluca, 4 km S, 2 km W Raíces, 3350 masl). Notwithstanding, although no permanent colony has been documented in Nevado de Toluca, the volcano rabbit was declared “extinct” within this portion of its range in 2018; populations exist elsewhere within the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and in captivity.. Due to the above, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (Red Data Book, IUCN 2019), no longer mentions the Nevado de Toluca as a current or potential site for the distribution of this species.
Animals of the same family as a Volcano rabbit
We found other animals of the Leporidae family:
- Black jackrabbit bringing 1.27 kilos (2.8 lbs) to the scale
- Tres Marias rabbit with a weight of 964 grams
- Riverine rabbit bringing 1.75 kilos (3.86 lbs) to the scale
- New England cottontail with a weight of 814 grams
- Cape hare bringing 2.05 kilos (4.52 lbs) to the scale
- Ethiopian highland hare bringing 2.77 kilos (6.11 lbs) to the scale
- Granada hare bringing 2.33 kilos (5.14 lbs) to the scale
- European hare bringing 3.82 kilos (8.42 lbs) to the scale
- Burmese hare bringing 2.27 kilos (5 lbs) to the scale
- Manchurian hare bringing 1.84 kilos (4.06 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Volcano rabbit
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Romerolagus diazi:
- Sunda flying fox bringing 466 grams to the scale
- Giant Atlantic tree-rat bringing 502 grams to the scale
- Allegheny woodrat bringing 447 grams to the scale
- Montane bamboo rat bringing 382 grams to the scale
- Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat bringing 489 grams to the scale
- Long-tailed armored tree-rat bringing 439 grams to the scale
- King rat (animal) bringing 420 grams to the scale
- Ashy-headed flying fox bringing 524 grams to the scale
- Columbian ground squirrel bringing 471 grams to the scale
- Little red flying fox bringing 379 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Volcano rabbit
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Volcano rabbit:
- White-faced spiny tree-rat with a size of 29.7 cm (1′ 0″)
- Crowned lemur with a size of 35.2 cm (1′ 2″)
- Mongoose lemur with a size of 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Collie’s squirrel with a size of 25.4 cm (0′ 10″)
- Hispaniolan solenodon with a size of 30.6 cm (1′ 1″)
- Angolan kusimanse with a size of 32.6 cm (1′ 1″)
- African striped weasel with a size of 30.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Moonrat with a size of 32.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- Eastern gray squirrel with a size of 25.4 cm (0′ 10″)
- Peruvian tuco-tuco with a size of 23.8 cm (0′ 10″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Volcano rabbit
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Volcano rabbit: