The pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) is the smallest rabbit in North America, and one of the smallest members of the family Leporidae (which includes hares and rabbits) in the world.  Weighing around one pound, an adult pygmy rabbit can easily fit into the palm of your hand. 

The pygmy rabbit is one of only two North American rabbits that dig its own burrows.  Pygmy rabbits are a strict sagebrush obligate, meaning they require sagebrush habitat during all seasons. 

Pygmy rabbits were once a common feature of the Great Basin and Intermountain regions of the American West, coinciding with the distribution of sagebrush.  The pygmy rabbit's range historically spanned over 100 million acres of the American West.  Due to the large-scale destruction and fragmentation of sagebrush habitat that has occurred during the last century, pygmy rabbit populations have plummeted.  Current populations occupy a geographic range estimated at about 5% of the historic range.

In addition to loss of sagebrush, pygmy rabbits are harmed by trampling and habitat degradation due to livestock grazing and associated rangeland developments (ex. fences, pipelines, troughs, etc.),  fires, and agricultural activities.

As a first step to preserve pygmy rabbits from extinction, federal land managers -- particularly the Bureau of Land Management, which controls the public lands where most of the remaining pygmy rabbits are located -- must exclude livestock grazing, energy and infrastructure development, and other harmful actions from causing any further losses.