However, Chinese geneticists have stated the species is "endangered" due to limited habitat and its fragmentation, and over-hunting and poaching.

In 1875, the German zoologist Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther first described the Yarkand hare, giving it the name Lepus yarkandensis, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History.

[4] Low gene flow and genetic subdivision occurs among isolated populations of the Tarim Basin.

[7] In the populations inhabiting the southern periphery of the Taklamakan Desert, a lower level of genetic diversity was found.

It is thought that the pattern of lineage mixing shown by the mitochondrial Cytochrome b DNA data could be due to the extensive gene flow among the Yarkand hare populations.

[10] The tail is 55 to 86 mm (2.2 to 3.4 in) long, and is smoke gray in colour, having whitish or creamy yellowish white below and along the sides.

[5] It is distinguished from the desert hare (Lepus tibetanus), by its lack of black near the tip the peripheries of the ears.

Wu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences flatly writes that the species is "endangered" due primarily to its fragmented and isolated islands of population.

"[8] It is a mainly nocturnal species, generally out in early morning or late evening,[13] but may also feed at night.

Additionally, its population trends, declining about 30%, warrants it a near threatened status, nearly meeting the criteria to be rated as vulnerable.

As the IUCN report notes: However, increased human activity within its range is undoubtedly impacting this species negatively.

The species occurs only in the widely spaced oases that surround the Tarim – making it highly fragmented; the majority of the desert has no water or vegetation.

More data are needed on the actual population level of L. yarkandensis in the oases that define its AOO, as well as whether or not the species is currently poached for food or pelts.

Although it was regionally "classified as VU under criteria A1cd (Wang and Xie 2004)" a better criterion A2 was preferred, "as the cause(s) of decline have not ceased and are expected to continue in the future.