Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2023 | 15(2): 22746–22748
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8113.15.2.22746-22748
#8113 | Received 24
July 2022 | Final received 19 August 2022 | Finally accepted 24 January 2023
Status of the Sumatran Striped
Rabbit Nesolagus netscheri
in Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve, South Sumatra
Province, Indonesia
Arum Setiawan
1 , Muhammad Iqbal 2, Octavia Susilowati
3, Doni Setiawan
4, Martialis Puspito Khristy Maharsi 5 &
Indra Yustian 6
1,4,6 Department of Biology,
Faculty of Science, Sriwijaya University, Jalan Raya Palembang-Prabumulih
km 32, Indralaya, Sumatera Selatan 30662, Indonesia.
2 Biology Programme,
Faculty of Science, Sriwijaya University, Palembang
30139, Indonesia.
3,5 Nature Conservation Agency of
South Sumatra Province, Jl. Kol. H. Burlian km 6, Palembang 30961, South Sumatra, Indonesia.
1 arum.setiawan@unsri.ac.id, 2
kpbsos26@yahoo.com (corresponding author), 3 octavia.susilowati@gmail.com,
4 donisetia@unsri.ac.id, 5 mpkm81@gmail.com, 6 idr_yustian@unsri.ac.id
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of publication: 26 February 2023 (online
& print)
Citation: Setiawan, A., M. Iqbal, O. Susilowati, D. Setiawan, M.P.K. Maharsi & I. Yustian (2023). Status of the
Sumatran Striped Rabbit Nesolagus netscheri in Isau-Isau
Wildlife Reserve, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(2): 22746–22748. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8113.15.2.22746-22748
Copyright: © Setiawan et al. 2023. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Sriwijaya University, Project funded Number: 023.17.2.677515/2021.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank Universitas Sriwijaya for funding part of the research through
Competitive Grant SP DIPA-023.17.2.677515/2021 in accordance with the Rector’s
Decree Number 0107.115/UN9/SB3.LP2M.PT/2021.
Classified as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, the
Sumatran Striped Rabbit Nesolagus netscheri is endemic to Sumatra Island of Indonesia and
is apparently the rarest lagomorph in the world (Flux 1990; McCarthy et al.
2019). N. netscheri normally inhabits montane
forest, but was also recorded in lowland forest, at 544–1900 m elevation
(McCarthy et al. 2012; Schai-braun & Hacklander 2016). This species has been documented along
forests of the Bukit Barisan Mountains, from Gunung Leuser National Park in
northern Sumatra to Bukit Barisan National Park in
southern Sumatran (McCarthy et al. 2012, 2018). The remaining forests of Bukit Barisan Mountains in South Sumatra Province have been
recently reported as important habitat for N. netscheri
(Setiawan et al. 2018, 2019). Established in 2014
with a total of 16.742 ha, Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve
(formerly known as Isau-Isau Pasemah
Wildlife Reserve) is one protected area in South Sumatra Province located in
the Bukit Barisan Mountains (Mahanani
et al. 2017; Whitten et al. 2000). The Isau-Isau
Wildlife Reserve is home for many endangered species of wildlife, particularly
N. netscheri (Susilowati
2022). In this paper, we report the occurence and
review status of N. netscheri in Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve. Due to its rarity and
endemicity, the coordinates of specific locations are not shown here.
Our study of N. netscheri was
conducted in the Wildlife Reserve during various visits from 2018 to 2021. We
set camera traps in the potential habitats to detect its occurence.
To complement our data, we interviewed as many as possible of the local
people to explore their knowledge of N. netscheri.
There are 24 villages around Isau-Isau Wildlife
Reserve (Anonymous 2022), but our study focussed on two villages: Lawang Agung Village (Mulak Ulu
Subdistrict, Lahat District) and Tanah Abang Village
(Semende Subdistrict, Muara
Enim District). Records of N. netscheri
in Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve are summarize
below:
– A local person c. 70 years old from Lawang
Agung Village reported seen N. netscheri in
1995 at 23:00 h. He saw an adult N. netscheri in
the forest when he was hunting a Greater Mouse-deer Tragulus
napu for food. Unfortunately, he forgot the exact
date and month of this observation.
– In 2005, a local from Lawang Agung Village
reported that he had shot an adult N. netscheri in
the forest of Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve. Again, this
settler forgot the exact date and month. The habitat is a mix of coffeee plantation and durian trees, bordered with forests.
Some herbs are found, and based on interviews with local people, two of them
are eaten by N. Netscheri: Elatostema
sp., and Godonoboea platypus.
– On 28 December 2018, an adult N. netscheri
was finally documented in the forest of Isau-Isau
Wildlife Reserve at a day-night camera trap set up by the Nature Conservation
Agency of South Sumatra Province (Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam Provinsi
Sumatera Alam). These photos from a camera trap
confirmed the occurence of N. netscheri
in this conservation area.
– In early January 2020, a local person from Lawang
Agung saw an adult N. netscheri near his hut.
At that time, he was staying in his hut waiting for Durian fruits Durio zibethinus, January being a peak season of Durian fruits
here.
– On 23 March 2020 at 1119 h, an adult N. netscheri
was photographed at a camera trap
set by the Nature Conservation Agency of South Sumatra Province in the same
location where local people reported this species earlier, in January 2020.
– In mid May 2021, a local person from Lawang Agung reported seeing an adult of N. netscheri around his garden, located in a coffee
plantation bordering with forest. He saw this adult N. netscheri
in his small chilli farm Capsicum annuum at night. It is likely that this rabbit was
feeding on leaves of C. annuum.
– On 17 September 2021 at 0138 h, an adult N. netscheri
was documented by a camera of the Department of Biology of Sriwijaya University and Nature Conservation Agency of
South Sumatra Province. The location of the camera trap is very close to the
location where local people reported this species earlier in January 2020.
– On 9 February 2019, a ranger of Nature Conservation Agency of South
Sumatra Province saw one adult with two young N. netscheri
by day-light where N. netscheri had been reported earlier, in January
2020.
Thus, there are eight records of N. netscheri
documented from Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve
between 1995 and 2022, three from camera traps and five from interviews with
local people. It is clear that N. netscheri is
very rarely encountered here. All records of N. netscheri
in Isau-Isau Widlife
Reserve are from habitat within good canopy cover, or at least near a forest
canopy area. Based on the interviews and observations of habitats, N. netscheri probably feeds on Elatostema
sp, Godonoboea
platypus, and young leaves of Chilli C. annuum. The diets of N. netscheri
have been summarized (Flux 1990; Setiawan et al.
2022), but further information about its diet is still required. In constrast to our previous study on the N. netscheri in Gunung Raya Widlife Reserve (Setiawan et al.
2018), our interviews with more than 50 local people who frequent the forests
suggest that many of them have never seen this rabbit, and almost none of them
are intentionally hunted.
Information from
settlers shows that N. netscheri is rarely encountered, but camera trap documentations
help to confirm its occurence.
The Sumatran Striped Rabbit N. netscheri
is a protected mammal by Indonesian law (Ministry of Environment and
Forestry 2018). Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve has been
justified by its conservation status in protecting N. netscheri.
Our records of N. netscheri in Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve give strong evidence that this consevation area is important habitat for this
species in Sumatra. McCarthy et al. (2019) propose a study to define the
distribution of the species on the island, and to develop an estimate of
density so that population trends of this rare species may be monitored. To
facilitate this conservation action, we recommend that regular patrol
undertaken by rangers of the Nature Conservation Agency of South Sumatra Province
staff in Isau-Isau Wildlife Reserve should also focus
on N. netscheri, recording incidental
sightings, and collecting information from local people and from camera traps
installed in certain areas. This could provide essential information for conserving
populations of N. netscheri in Sumatra.
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