When the bunny lived approximately 3 million to 5 million years ago, it weighed about 26 pounds (12 kilograms), about six times the size of the living European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The fossils of the giant were discovered on the island of Minorca off the coast of Spain, a fact reflected in the rabbit's scientific name, Nuralagus rex, "the Minorcan king of the rabbits." "I needed four years to recover a good sample of N. rex bones because they were in very hard red stone," paleontologist Josep Quintana at the Catalan Institute of Paleontology in Barcelona, Spain, told LiveScience. SLIDE SHOW: 5 Animals Named For Famous Monsters 
 
 Quintana, a scientist at the Catalan Institute of Paleontology, and colleagues Meike Kohler and Salvador Moya-Sola describe the giant fossil rabbit in a Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology paper. They believe the rabbit lost the ability to hop, because the long, springy spine typical of modern bunnies was replaced by a short, stiff backbone. Based on the rabbit's curved claws, the researchers suspect the animal was most probably a digger that lived on roots and tubers it unearthed. Other inhabitants of the island at the time included a bat, a large dormouse and a giant tortoise. The giant probably also had poor hearing and vision, with relatively small eye sockets and internal ear parts. Simply put, this states that when on islands, big animals often tend to become smaller and small animals frequently tend to grow larger. Now, discoveries on Minorca have added a giant to the mix, a 25-pound, short-legged rabbit," said rabbit researcher Mary Dawson at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, who did not take part in this study. Quintana also hopes this rabbit "king" will become a popular mascot for the island. He explained, "I would like to use N. rex to lure students and visitors to Minorca!"
– On the Spanish island of Minorca up to 5 million years ago, the rabbit was king. Researchers there have discovered fossils belonging to the biggest-ever member of the bunny family, LiveScience reports. Nuralagus rex, weighing in at some 26 pounds—about six times the size of modern rabbits—had largely lost the ability to hop, and had relatively small ears, researchers say. Scientists believe the rabbit reached its gargantuan size because of the "island effect," which can cause small animals to evolve into big ones because of a lack of predators. "There is an underlying assumption that rabbits appeared some 40 million years ago and have been perfectly happy to stay just about the same," a researcher tells Discovery. "This new species is interesting in that it's quite different from what we know of living or fossil rabbits."