This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Eight years of painstaking research on the virtually unknown Wolffsohn's viscacha have helped to shine the spotlight on this super-rare South American rodent and catalyze the conservation action it so urgently needs. BirdLife International and the Wildlife Conservation Society—a team of early-career conservationists from Argentina has transformed our understanding of a species that scientists knew almost nothing about.
The detailed information that the team has compiled about Wolffsohn's viscacha and the threats it faces has led to a change in the species' official conservation status from Data Deficient to Endangered on Argentina's Red List. At the same time, the data is being used to help reassess its status on the global IUCN Red List. Viscachas bear a superficial resemblance to rabbits, but the two are not closely related.
Their physical similarity is the result of a phenomenon called "convergent evolution." This is where unrelated species living in similar habitats, but in completely different parts of the world, end up with shared physical characteristics. In fact, the viscacha's closest cousin is the chinchilla—another native of South America but one that's much more familiar due to its popularity as a pet. Wolffsohn's viscacha is by far the rarest of the world's five viscacha species.
It is endemic to an area of Patagonia that straddles the border between southwestern Argentina and southern Chile, where it is confined to remote rocky outcrops in the mountains. The project that has put this endearing but enigmatic creature on the conservation map was co-led by conservationists Lucas Hormachea and Morgan Pendaries. Their team surveyed 66 sites across the remote mountains of Patagonia, often working in extreme conditions to reach colonies of the elusive species.
The team discovered new colonies and documented evidence of local population declines, helping build the first robust picture of the species' status. Pendaries said, "We started this work because almost nothing was known about Wolffsohn's viscacha. People often assume that if a species is classed as Data Deficient it is safe, but that isn't true.
We now know the species occupies a much smaller area than previously thought, faces multiple threats, and has disappeared from places where it was recorded in the past." Camera traps deployed near colonies recorded interactions with invasive European hares and feral dogs, while interviews with local communities revealed predation by dogs as an ongoing threat. The team also discovered that the viscacha avoids areas that are popular with mountain climbers, which has led to a shift in part of their range. Researchers are also increasingly concerned about the effects of climate change in the Patagonian Andes.
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