What are Lagomorphs?
Lagomorphs, Order Lagomorpha, is an order of placental mammals that includes two families, Leporidae (hares and rabbits), and Ochotonidae (pikas). Lagomorphs are part of Grandorder Anagalida, which also includes rodents and elephant shrews. At one point, based on their superficial resemblance, lagomorphs were classified as a superfamily within order Rodentia, but have since been given their own order. The word “lagomorph” is derived from the Greek lago-, which means hare, and -morph, which means bearing a resemblance to. The order contains about 45 species. Lagomorphs are all ground-dwelling, and can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Their natural range included all the continents but Antarctica and Australia. Lagomorphs were introduced to Australia and New Zealand with early European colonists, where they reproduced quickly and endlessly, much to the detriment of the local flora and fauna. This led to the saying, “breeding like rabbits”. On these isolated land masses, lag