Dice's cottontail
The Dice Cottontail rabbit ( Sylvilagus dicei ) is a mammal in the genus of cottontail rabbit among lagomorphs. It is endemic to the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and western Panama.
Features
The Dice cottontail rabbit is a relatively large species of the genus. The back fur is brown-black mottled, the sides of the body are gray - black in color. The tail is black, the belly white, and the throat has a brown spot.
Dissemination
The Dice Cottontail rabbit is endemic to the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica and western Panama. It lives in Costa Rica at altitudes of 1,640 meters to 3,800 meters in Cervantes on Cerro Chirripo. In Panama, it comes from an altitude of 1,180 meters in Rancho de Rio Jimenezvor.
Way of life
About the habit of the species are very little information, one assumes, however, that it largely corresponds to that of the Tapeti ( S. brasiliensis). As habitat preferred the way the Páramo, approximately at Cerro Chirripo, but in addition also occurs in bushland and the oak cloud forests at high altitude.
System
The Dice Cottontail is assigned as an independent species the cottontail rabbits ( genus Sylvilagus ). First described scientifically it was by Thaddeus Harris Williams in 1932. Originally this species as subspecies of Tapeti or Brazil Cottontail ( S. brasiliensis ) was considered.
Threats and conservation
The Dice cottontail rabbit is from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ( IUCN) although listed due to the very limited data available, but not classified ( data deficient ). It is assumed that the species is in some areas due to the limited habitats and the impact of introduced predators, especially coyotes, threatened, without further research, however, is not possible a real assessment.