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b'Thanks to Eva for suggesting the adorable volcano rabbit this week!\\n\\nFurther watching:\\n\\nAmerican Pikas Calling Out\\n\\nThe volcano rabbit is not a volcano but it is a very small rabbit:\\n\\n\\n\\nThe volcano rabbit is SO CUTE:\\n\\n\\n\\nThe American pika looks kind of like its rabbit cousin [photo by Justin Johnsen, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91574]:\\n\\n\\n\\nShow transcript:\\n\\nWelcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I\\u2019m your host, Kate Shaw.\\n\\nThis week we have a suggestion from Eva, who wanted to learn about volcano rabbits! What are volcano rabbits? Do they shoot lava at their enemies? Let\\u2019s find out! (No, they don\\u2019t shoot lava. Sorry. That\\u2019d be awesome!)\\n\\nThe most important thing to know about the volcano rabbit is how small it is. It\\u2019s almost the smallest rabbit known. It typically only grows about 9 inches long, or 23 cm, and that\\u2019s when it\\u2019s stretched out. Rabbits usually sit more bunched up, which makes it look even smaller. Its ears are small and rounded, its tail is short even for a rabbit, and its legs are short. Its fur is also short and very thick, mostly grayish-tan in color.\\n\\nThe second most important thing to know about the volcano rabbit is how rare and endangered it is. That\\u2019s because it only lives in one small part of Mexico, specifically on the upper slopes of four volcanoes. Because people also live in this area, which isn\\u2019t far from Mexico City, the rabbits\\u2019 natural range is fragmented by human-made obstacles like highways that are dangerous for it to cross, along with habitat destruction from logging, livestock grazing, and the building of new houses. People even hunt the rabbit even though it\\u2019s a protected animal. We don\\u2019t know for sure how many of the volcano rabbits are left in the wild, but the best estimate is around 1,200 rabbits in small populations that are often widely separated. It\\u2019s even been declared extinct on another volcano where it used to live, although there may be a small population still hanging on.\\n\\nThe volcano rabbit prefers open woodland in higher elevations where there\\u2019s plenty of tall, dense grass native to the area. It makes rabbit-sized tunnels through the grass so it can move around undetected by predators. It also mostly eats this grass. It\\u2019s most active at dawn and dusk, which also helps it hide from predators.\\n\\nWhen a volcano rabbit does feel threatened, it doesn\\u2019t thump its feet to alert other rabbits of danger. Instead, it gives a little alarm squeal. This is really unusual in a rabbit, but it\\u2019s something the pika does, and the pika is closely related to rabbits. The pika lives in parts of central Asia and western North America, especially in cold areas like mountaintops. It\\u2019s so well adapted to the cold that it can die if the temperature climbs over about 78 degrees Fahrenheit, or 25 Celsius.\\n\\nThe American pika actually looks a lot like the volcano rabbit in some ways, although it\\u2019s less rabbit-like in shape and more rodent-like, although it\\u2019s not a rodent. It\\u2019s a lagomorph. It\\u2019s about the same size or a little smaller than the volcano rabbit, with short legs and dense grayish-brown fur that grows longer in winter. It especially likes places with a lot of rocks, since it makes its home in little cracks and crevices between rocks. It prepares for winter by harvesting the plants it eats and storing them in little haypiles. Since it doesn\\u2019t hibernate, it needs plenty of food for times when snow and ice make it hard to find plants.\\n\\nThe pika is intensely territorial, because it doesn\\u2019t want any other pikas sneaking around eating up its hay, but it does communicate with other pikas. During breeding season the males will make a singing call to attract a female, and all pikas will call to warn others of a predator nearby. I couldn\\u2019t find any recordings of a volcano rabbit, but this is what an American pika sounds like:\\n\\n(wait for it\\u2026)\\n\\n[pika beeping]\\n\\nLike other rabbits, the volcano rabbit eats grass and other plant parts.'