Posted on 01/01/2023 4:47:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv
On the small island of Minorca, a popular European tourist destination, researchers have unearthed an enormous fossil rabbit skeleton. A recent study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology highlights this new find off the coast of Spain. This massive rabbit, aptly named the Minorcan King of the Rabbits (Nuralagus rex), weighed in at 12 kg (26.4 lbs)! — approximately ten times the size of its extinct mainland cousin (Alilepus sp.) and six times the size of the living European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus...
The rabbit king lived approximately 3-5 million years ago and may be one of the oldest known cases of the "island rule" in mammals. Simply put, the island rule states that when on islands, big animals will get smaller and small animals will get bigger. This size change on islands may be due to reduced quantities of food or lack of mainland predators. On Minorca, Nuralagus rex lived with few other vertebrate species. Some of its neighbors included a bat (Rhinolophus cf. grivensis), a large dormouse (Muscardinus cyclopeus), and the above-mentioned giant tortoise (Cherirogaster gymnesica). In the case of N. rex, the lack of predators allowed this rabbit to reach a giant size...
Instead, this rabbit was most likely a digger, searching for roots and tubers to eat. Additionally, because of lack of predators to worry about, Nuralagus rex lost visual and hearing acuity. N. rex had reduced eye socket size and reduced auditory bullae, suggesting smaller eyes and ears. So although it might be assumed that this rabbit must have had huge ears, that would be wrong; N. rex had relatively diminutive ears for its size.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
“The rabbit king lived approximately 3-5 million years ago and may be one of the oldest known cases of the “island rule” in mammals. Simply put, the island rule states that when on islands, big animals will get smaller and small animals will get bigger. This size change on islands may be due to reduced quantities of food or lack of mainland predators.”
I thought it had to do with natural selective gravity?
Thank you for posting the link and transcript to the PBS Eons video about the Mediterranean. Fascinating and informative. Enjoyed it immensely.
That extinct rabbit must have looked something like a
Capybara or a Nutria.
Try catching one of those in a traditional Rabbit Trap.
Omg that was IMMEDIATELY what came to my mind too… lol!!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail… best movie!!!
Anyone remember the horror movie “Night of the Lepus” back in the early 70s starring Rory Calhoun and Deforest Kelley?
They found General Woundwort.
It's a trap.
I never caught a Nutria in a trap but I did shoot and mostly just anger one with my only bow fishing arrow many years ago. I didn’t think that one out very well. (;
The Gandalara Cycle books (published in the early 80’s), by Randall Garrett and Vicki Ann Heydron, were set in the dried-up Mediterranean basin. A couple of modern humans are sent through a time slip to inhabit natives in the basin - once they realize where they are and that the basin is fixin’ to refill, they organize a move out of the basin.
Pretty good page turners - I need to reread them some time.
As the African continent moved east and rotated counterclockwise, the Mediterranean was formed as a pocket, more a bay, rather large one, out of the Indian ocean with the European continent as the north coast.
Then as the African continent rotated more, and crashed into the Arabian peninsula the Mediterranean was cut off from the Indian ocean, as the Suez was choked off. This lasted for a while, until the med was mostly evaporated, much like the great salt lake.
lastly, the African continent rotated counterclockwise a bit more, creating the crack in the wall between Spain and morocco, letting in a real ocean into the valley.
Would be cool to see how many civilizations are on the Mediterranean sea floor.
Nutria: Nice sounding name, ugly looking animal. You were lucky he didn’t chase you; gift-arrow and all.
SADDLE UP!
My Bavarian Aunt, during WW2, used to breed rabbits in an old wardrobe so that the SS wouldn’t find them.
Its in the ancestral genes!
She may have even had later correspondence with C.S. Lewis who employed a wardrobe as a literary device.Who knows?
I am amazed at the spunk and pluck related in your stories about your Bavarian relatives.Its as if the Nazis could barely touch them.
Didn’t Jimmy Carter have a fight with one of these varmints?
LOL
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