Fun Facts:
Eastern Cottontails molt twice per year, with a browner, short summer coat, and a longer grayer coat in winter.
Mating pairs have a funny ritual before copulating! After dark, the male rabbit will chase the female until she eventually faces him and then spars at him with her front paws. They will then face each other until one of them leaps about 2 feet up in the air, and repeat the whole thing again before mating!
Young rabbits grow quickly! They leave the nest after about 2 weeks, and are completely weaned by 22 days old.
They have an excellent sense of sight, smell, and hearing.
Eastern Cottontails usually hide during the day, napping and grooming, and are more active in the evening and at night.
They attempt to escape predators by either freezing in place, or by doing fast zig-zag jumps away. They can run at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour!
They are vegetarians, and eat their own fecal pellets to reabsorb food nutrients after they eat the plants which ferment while digesting during the initially pass.
Mating pairs have a funny ritual before copulating! After dark, the male rabbit will chase the female until she eventually faces him and then spars at him with her front paws. They will then face each other until one of them leaps about 2 feet up in the air, and repeat the whole thing again before mating!
Young rabbits grow quickly! They leave the nest after about 2 weeks, and are completely weaned by 22 days old.
They have an excellent sense of sight, smell, and hearing.
Eastern Cottontails usually hide during the day, napping and grooming, and are more active in the evening and at night.
They attempt to escape predators by either freezing in place, or by doing fast zig-zag jumps away. They can run at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour!
They are vegetarians, and eat their own fecal pellets to reabsorb food nutrients after they eat the plants which ferment while digesting during the initially pass.
Benefits:
These rabbits are a very important food source in the diets of a number of predators, including bobcats, owls, hawks, coyotes, foxes and minks.
They form underground burrows that help improve soil health.
They form underground burrows that help improve soil health.
Challenges:
They can cause damage to gardens and farms by eating crops.
Tips for living alongside them:
Protect gardens with 2-foot high chicken wire.
If you find baby rabbits alone in a nest, they are most likely fine. Mother rabbits only feed babies about twice per day.
Rabbit nests can look like loose leaf litter or grass, so check your yard before mowing!
If you find baby rabbits alone in a nest, they are most likely fine. Mother rabbits only feed babies about twice per day.
Rabbit nests can look like loose leaf litter or grass, so check your yard before mowing!
range and habitat
Their range extends from Southern Manitoba and Quebec in Canada to Central and Northwest South America, and from the East Coast of the United States to the Great Plains.
They prefer habitat that consists of edge environments between woody vegetation and open land.
They prefer habitat that consists of edge environments between woody vegetation and open land.
sources
Mikita, K. (n.d.). Sylvilagus floridanus. Animal Diversity Web. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sylvilagus_floridanus/
What to do about wild rabbits. Humane Society of the United States. https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/what-do-about-wild-rabbits#:~:text=As%20critical%20members%20of%20our,source%20for%20many%20larger%20predators.
What to do about wild rabbits. Humane Society of the United States. https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/what-do-about-wild-rabbits#:~:text=As%20critical%20members%20of%20our,source%20for%20many%20larger%20predators.
