Profile of the Nuralagus

Profile of the Nuralagus Just how big was Nuralagus? Well, the full name of this megafauna mammal is Nuralagus rexwhich translates, roughly, as Rabbit King of Minorca, and not incidentally makes a sly reference to the much, much bigger Tyrannosaurus rex. The fact is that this prehistoric rabbit weighed over five times as much as any species living today; the single fossil specimen points to an individual of at least 25 pounds. Nuralagus was very different from modern rabbits in other ways besides its enormous size: it was unable to hop, for example, and it seems to have possessed fairly small ears. Name: Nuralagus (Greek for Minorcan hare); pronounced NOOR-ah-LAY-gus Habitat: Island of Minorca Historical Epoch: Pliocene (5-3 million years ago) Size and Weight: About four feet long and 25 pounds Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; small ears and eyes Nuralagus is a good example of what paleontologists call insular gigantism: small animals restricted to island habitats, in the absence of any natural predators, have a tendency to evolve to larger-than-usual sizes. (In fact, Nuralagus was so secure in its Minorcan paradise that it actually had smaller-than-usual eyes and ears!) This is distinct from an opposite trend, insular dwarfism, in which large animals confined to small islands tend to evolve to smaller sizes: witness the petite sauropod dinosaur Europasaurus, which only weighed about a ton.