For 120 years, the Omiltemi rabbit was a myth for science: described in 1904 and never seen again by zoologists. While experts considered it extinct in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the inhabitants of Guerrero hunted and raised it without knowing it was a lost species. An unexpected turn came in 1998 with a pelt delivered by hunters, but definitive confirmation took two more decades.
How technology rediscovered a hidden species 🧬
The team of José Alberto Almazán-Catalán, from Re:wild's Search for Lost Species program, applied a methodical approach between 2019 and 2024. They used camera traps, environmental DNA analysis, and interviews with local communities to track the rabbit in ten areas. They found it in seven, revealing a distribution three times larger than estimated. Collaboration with hunters and breeders was key to mapping its real habitat, demonstrating that previous scientific data was incomplete due to a lack of fieldwork.
The rabbit that laughed at scientists for a century 🐇
While zoologists racked their brains looking for the Omiltemi rabbit in books and museums, the inhabitants of Guerrero had it on the menu. It turns out the species was not only not extinct, but was more common than a cold in winter. The rabbit, with all its irony, patiently waited for experts to stop looking at old maps and ask local people. A hundred years of searching to discover that the treasure was in the kitchen next door.