“Climate change threatens more than two-thirds of rabbit species,” according to a study reported by Katie Leach, Queen’s University Belfast; an alarming trend that will affect the world’s 87 species of lagomorphs, a group that includes rabbits, hares, and pikas. Habitat loss, adaptation, relocation, and extinction of these populations will only increase in the years to come. Knowing this is a threat that my rabbit characters will face in the middle grade novel that I’m writing, today I used my writing time to do more research into this topic, taking notes, for a total of 1000 hand-written words. The photos included in this post show a few of the kinds of lagomorphs—all cousins of my protagonist, an Eastern cottontail rabbit—that face such consequences: Pygmy rabbit, Jackrabbit, Antelope rabbit, Snowshoe hare, and Pika.

Pygmy rabbit, R. Dixon (IDGF) and H. Ulmschneider (BLM)

Jackrabbit, Airwolfhound, CC BY-SA

Antelope jackrabbit, Ancheta Wis, CC BY-SA

Snowshoe hare, Tim Rains/NPS CC BY

Pika rabbit, Jacob W. Frank, CC BY
Day #25 of National Novel Writing Month. Only 5 days left!