The Amami rabbit ( Pentalagus furnessi ) is an endangered rabbit-species found on only 2 small islands in southwestern Japan. The population is thought to be about 5000 animals. In 2008 an attemp was made to clone this species but I've no further information about this attemp. Does anybody know more about it ? Also I would be intrested to know if there are any specimens of this species in captivity.
None are listed on the latest JAZA animal inventory. However, some years ago, Ken Kawata wrote an article in International Zoo News about small mammals in Japanese zoos for the year 2005. At that time, one collection was listed as having 7.7.13 specimens. I've also found references to the species being kept & bred at Kagoshima Hirakawa Zoo. It seems these captive groups may have died out.
I've visited the Kinki University's website - it seems that the research is still being continued by biologist Dr. Hosoi and his team. As MikeG says, Hirakawa Zoo once kept Amami rabbits and even succeeded in breeding them in captivity, but none of the Zoos in Japan keeps the species anymore. There's some good news too - according to this year's research, the number of Amami rabbits appears to be growing slightly due to the declining population of mongooses, their main predators.
