Bioacoustics of Pentalagus furnessi

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Amami Rabbits move 100-200 m away from their burrow to feed and drop pellets on open places. Dung piles consist of an average of 28.7 pellets and are placed on runaways. Average home range size was 1-3 ha for four males and 1 ha for three females, recorded with radio-transmitters. Home ranges of females did not overlap, but those of the males did. Male home ranges overlapped those of the females. The Amami Rabbit has a vocalization like pikas ( Ochotona ) and beats the ground with its hindfeet. At dusk before they become active, individuals appear at entrances of their burrows and produce calls that can be heard loud and clear in small valleys. A mother vocalizes to attract her young when she approaches her nursing burrow. A vocalization usually consists of 3-4 calls like “puyi, puyi, puyi” (frequency 6-12 kHz, length 0-4-0-6 seconds, and interval 0-4-0-6 seconds). Numbers of vocalizations per hour by three captive Amami Rabbits were 3-30 with peaks at 20:00 h and 03:00 h in August and 3-24 with peaks at 19:00-23:00 h and 03:00 h in October.