Eastern cottontails have excellent vision, hearing, and sense of smell. Eastern cottontails make many sounds. They have cries of worry that are used to startle an enemy and warn others of danger. They grunt if predators approach a nesting female and her litter. They also make squeals during mating.
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
Eastern cottontails are common throughout their range.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Eastern cottontails cause a great deal of damage in their search for food. They are pests to gardeners and farmers in the summer. In the winter, they are a threat to the orchardist, forester and landscaper. In addition, humans may contract the bacterial disease tularemia from handling the carcass of an infected cottontail.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (carries human disease); crop pest
The eastern cottontail is abundant and edible, therefore making it a prominent game species. It is hunted for sport, meat, and fur.
Positive Impacts: food ; body parts are source of valuable material
The eastern cottontail is a vegetarian, with the majority of its diet made up of complex carbohydrates and cellulose. The digestion of these substances is made possible by caecal fermentation. The cottontail must reingest fecal pellets to reabsorb nutrients from its food after this process. Their diet varies between seasons due to availability. In the summer, green plants are favored. About 50% of the cottontail's intake is grasses, including bluegrass and wild rye. Other summer favorites are wild strawberry, clover and garden vegtables. In the winter, the cottontail subsists on woody plant parts, including the twigs, bark and buds of oak, dogwood, sumac, maple and birch. As the snow accumulates, cottontails have access to the higher trunk and branches. Feeding activity peaks 2-3 hours after dawn and the hour after sunset.
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore , Lignivore)
The eastern cottontail has the widest distribution of any Sylvilagus. It is found from southern Manitoba and Quebec to Central and northwestern South America. In the contiguous United States, the eastern cottontail ranges from the east to the Great Plains in the west.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Historically, the eastern cottontail inhabited deserts, swamps and hardwood forests, as well as rainforests and boreal forests. Currently, the eastern cottontail prefers edge environments between woody vegetation and open land. Its range of habitats includes meadows, orchards, farmlands, hedgerows and areas with second growth shrubs, vines and low deciduous trees. The eastern cottontail occurs sympatrically with many other leporids, including six species of Sylvilagus and six species of Lepus.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
Eastern cottontails are short-lived. Most do not survive beyond their third year.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 3.0 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 5.0 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 9.0 years.
Adult eastern cottontails reach a length of 395 to 477 mm. A dense, buffy brown underfur and longer, coarser gray- and black-tipped guard hairs cover the back of the eastern cottontail. Its rump and flanks are gray, and it has a prominent rufous patch on its nape. The ventral surface is white. The eastern cottontail shows the white underside of its short tail when it is running. This rabbit undergoes two molts per year. The spring molt, lasting from mid-April to mid-July, leaves a short summer coat that is more brown. From mid-September to the end of October, the change to longer, grayer pelage occurs for winter. The eastern cottontail has four pairs of mammary glands. It also has distinctive large eyes for its size.
Range mass: 0.8 to 1.53 kg.
Range length: 395.0 to 477.0 mm.
Average length: 430.0 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger
Eastern cottontails can escape predators with their fast, jumping form of locomotion. They can run at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour. They will either flush, freeze, or slink to escape danger. Flushing is a fast, zig-zag dash to an area of cover. Slinking is moving low to the ground with the ears laid back to avoid detection. Freezing is simply remaining motionless.
Known Predators:
A mating pair performs an interesting ritual before copulation. This usually occurs after dark. The buck chases the doe until she eventually turns and faces him. She then spars at him with her forepaws. They crouch, facing each other, until one of the pair leaps about 2 feet in the air. This behavior is repeated by both animals before mating.
Mating System: polygynous
The beginning of reproductive activity in the eastern cottontail is related to the onset of the adult molt. Sexual maturity occurs around 2 to 3 months. An average of 25% of young are produced by juveniles (Banfield, 1981). Bucks are in breeding condition by mid-February and are active until September. Does are polyoestrus, with their first heat occurring in late February. The time of initial reproductive activity varies with latitude and elevation, occurring later at higher conditions of both. The onset of breeding is also controlled by temperature, availability of succulent vegetation and the change in photoperiod (Chapman et al., 1980). Does can have anywhere from 1 to 7 litters per year, but average 3 to 4. Gestation is typically between 25 and 28 days. A few days before the birth of her young, the doe prepares a grass and fur-lined nest. The nest is usually in a hollow beneath a shrub or a log or in tall grass. Litter size varies from 1 to 12 neonates with an average of 5. The newborns weigh 25 to 35 g, and are altricial; they are blind and naked. The young grow rapidly, initially about 2.5 g a day. Their eyes open around day 4 or 5, and they can leave the nest after about two weeks. The litter receives minimal care from their mother; they are nursed once or twice daily. Weaning occurs between 16 and 22 days. Litter mates become intolerant of each other and disperse at around seven weeks. The doe mates soon after her first litter, and she is often near the end of gestation as the current litter is leaving the nest.
Breeding interval: Does can have 1 to 7 litters in a year, but average 3 to 4.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs from February to September.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 12.
Average number of offspring: 5.
Range gestation period: 25 to 28 days.
Range weaning age: 16 to 22 days.
Range time to independence: 4 to 5 weeks.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 to 3 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 to 3 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization ; viviparous
Average birth mass: 40 g.
Average number of offspring: 5.
Eastern cottontail females construct a nest in a protected place a few days before giving birth. They care for their young in the nest and nurse them until they are about 16 days old.
Parental Investment: altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female)
