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New England cottontails, like other cottontails, have strong hearing and eyesight. They make low, purring, grunting, or growling sounds when they are breeding or fighting and utter a loud, shrill scream if captured by a predator. In addition, New England cottontails often hit the ground with their hind feet, which may be a means of communication to other rabbits. Like other mammals, olfactory clues are also likely to be important.
Communication Channels: acoustic ; chemical
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Since the 1960's there has been widespread decline of New England cottontail populations. It is estimated that available habitats for New England cottontails have declined by 86% since 1960. While many theories for this decline have been proposed, the three most common are habitat loss, competition with eastern cottontails, and hybridization with eastern cottontails.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
New England cottontails host many types of parasites, including ticks, and thus can provide a vector for tick-borne diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, and tularemia. These diseases are easily transferable to humans and domestic pets.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (causes disease in humans ); causes or carries domestic animal disease
Historically, many people have hunted New England cottontails for sport, fur, and meat. Due to the declining numbers of Sylvilagus transitionalis, the hunting of this species has greatly decreased over the past 20 years or so, though it does still occur. New England cottontails and other cottontails are often used for ecological research, as their size and temperament makes them easy to handle and they have high population turnover.
Positive Impacts: food ; body parts are source of valuable material; research and education
New England cottontails are prey to mid-sized predators such as foxes, weasels, and birds of prey, and act as the staple food source for many of these predators. In areas where food is plentiful, their populations are able to sustain great losses because of their rapid reproductive rates. In some areas, New England cottontails are considered a buffer prey species. This means that if their numbers are high, predators will focus on them, thereby reducing the pressure on other prey species in the area.
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
New England cottontails are herbivorous. The specific makeup of their diet depends on the season. In the spring and summer, they eat mostly grasses and forbs. In the fall, they transition to a diet of woody twigs, and the winter diet is determined primarily by forage ability. Digestion in New England cottontails employs coprophagy, in which soft feces is re-ingested to increase the amount of nitrogen in the diet.
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; flowers
Other Foods: dung
Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore , Lignivore); coprophage
New England cottontails live exclusively in the New England region of the United States. However, destruction of their habitat means that the modern distribution of these rabbits occupies less than 25% historically occupied areas.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
New England cottontails live in woodlands in New England, preferring those of higher elevation or more northern latitudes. The forests where New England cottontails make their homes all have dense understory cover, preferably of blueberry or mountain laurel. New England cottontails make nests in depressions roughly 12 cm deep by 10 cm wide and line them with grasses and fur. They rarely venture more than 5 m from cover.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
Like all cottontails, Sylvilagus transitionalis has a short lifespan in the wild, usually no more than three years. On average, only 15% of the young will survive their first year.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 3 years.
New England cottontails are medium-sized rabbits that closely resemble eastern cottontails. They weigh between 995 and 1347 g and have lengths between 398 and 439 mm. Their coats are dark brown with a penciled effect and their tails have white undersides. New England cottontails can be differentiated from eastern cottontails by the black hair between and on the anterior surface of their ears. New England cottontails sexually dimorphic, with larger females than males.
Range mass: 995 to 1347 g.
Range length: 398 to 439 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger
New England cottontails fall prey to small and medium sized predators such as weasels, cats, foxes, and birds of prey. While hares are built for long-term speed to outrun predators, New England cottontails sprint for cover when danger approaches. They sometimes freeze when they sense danger, taking advantage of their cryptic coloration to hide. When chased, they zig-zag to confuse the predator. New England cottontails that occupy the smallest habitat patches, with less vegetative cover, are most vulnerable to predation, as they are forced to forage more in the open.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
During mating, male New England cottontails form breeding groups around dominant females in areas of the habitat with plentiful food and good cover. Courtship of cottontails involves a running and jumping display, often in which one rabbit jumps over the other. Though linear hierarchies for female cottontails are not clearly defined, once paired off, the unreceptive female demonstrates dominance over the male during nesting, parturition and nursing to avoid harassment by males.
Testes of male New England cottontails begin to enlarge in late December and pregnant females appear between April and August. Gestation period is about 28 days, and female New England cottontails have 2 to 3 litters per year that average 5.2 young per litter. New England cottontails usually copulate again immediately following parturition. Sylvilagus transitionalis is short-lived and breeds at an early age, with many juvenile rabbits breeding in their first season. Reproductive patterns vary with latitudes - the farther north the habitat of the cottontail, the larger the litter and the shorter the gestation period. This allows them to produce more litters in warmer weather. The young are born naked with their eyes closed, so mothers care for their young in nests for 2 to 3 weeks after birth. The mother has often mated again by the time the juveniles have left the nest.
Breeding interval: New England cottontails breed 2 to 3 times a year.
Breeding season: The breeding season for New England cottontails can span from January to September, depending on the elevation and latitude. For example, the breeding season in Connecticut lasts from mid-March to mid-September, whereas in Maine the breeding season for Sylvilagus transitionalis lasts from April to August.
Range number of offspring: 3 to 8.
Average number of offspring: 5.2.
Average gestation period: 28 days.
Range weaning age: 14 to 21 days.
Average weaning age: 16 days.
Average time to independence: 4 weeks.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 (high) years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 (high) years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous
The parental investment of Sylvilagus transitionalis is minimal. There is no investment by male cottontails and female cottontails nurse their young in the nest for about 16 days.
Parental Investment: altricial ; female parental care ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female)
The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), also called the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare, wood rabbit, or cooney, is a species of cottontail rabbit represented by fragmented populations in areas of New England, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York.[2][4][5] This species bears a close resemblance to the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), which has been introduced in much of the New England cottontail home range. The eastern cottontail is now more common in it.[6]
Litvaitis et al. (2006) estimated that the current area of occupancy in its historic range is 12,180 km2 (4,700 sq mi) - some 86% less than the occupied range in 1960.[2] Because of this decrease in this species' numbers and habitat, the New England cottontail is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Cottontail hunting has been restricted in some areas where the eastern and New England cottontail species coexist in order to protect the remaining New England cottontail population.[7]
Rabbits require habitat patches of at least 12 acres to maintain a stable population. In New Hampshire, the number of suitable patches dropped from 20 to 8 in the early 2000s. The ideal habitat is 25 acres of continuous early successional habitat within a larger landscape that provides shrub wetlands and dense thickets. Federal funding has been used for habitat restoration work on state lands, including the planting of shrubs and other growth critical to the rabbit's habitat. Funding has also been made available to private landowners who are willing to create thicket-type brush habitat which doesn't have much economic value.[6]
The New England cottontail is a medium-sized rabbit almost identical to the eastern cottontail.[8][9] The two species look nearly identical, and can only be reliably distinguished by genetic testing of tissue, through fecal samples (i.e., of rabbit pellets), or by an examination of the rabbits' skulls, which shows a key morphological distinction: the frontonasal skull sutures of eastern cottontail are smooth lines, while the New England cottontails' are jagged or interdigitated.[9][10] The New England cottontail also typically has black hair between and on the anterior surface of the ear, which the Eastern cottontails lacks.[8]
The New England cottontail weighs between 995 and 1347 g and is between 398 and 439 mm long, with dark brown coats with a "penciled effect" and tails with white undersides.[8] They are sexually dimorphic, with females larger than males.[8]
New England cottontails live in New England region of the United States; habitat destruction has limited its modern range to less than 25 percent of its historic range.[8] The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) explains that:
According to at least one study, the cottontails' historic range also included a small part of southern Quebec, from which it is extirpated.[2]
The major factor in the decline of the New England cottontail population and the restriction of its range is habitat destruction from the reduced thicket habitat.[11] Before European settlement, New England cottontails were likely found along river valleys, where disturbances in the forest—such as beaver activity, ice storms, hurricanes, and wildfires—promoted thicket growth. The clearing of much of the New England forest, as well as development, has eliminated a large portion of New England cottontail habitat.[11] Other species that depend on thickets - including some birds (such as the American woodcock, eastern towhee, golden-winged warbler, blue-winged warbler, yellow-breasted chat, brown thrasher, prairie warbler and indigo bunting) and reptiles (such as the black racer, smooth green snake and wood turtle) have also declined.[12]
Various other factors also contributed to the decline of New England cottontails:
In 2011, researchers from the University of Rhode Island reported that a survey found that the New England cottontail was on the verge of extirpation from Rhode Island, because of habitat loss, competition from eastern cottontails, and increased predator populations. The URI study collected nearly one thousand pellet samples from more than one hundred locations; DNA testing of the samples showed that only one contained the DNA of the New England cottontail.[13] A habitat analysis was conducted on an island in Narragansett Bay with no known past population by either cottontail species, as a possible refugium for the New England cottontail.[13]
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation also states that the New England cottontail's range in the state has been dramatically reduced because of habitat destruction and competition with the eastern cottontail.[9] Moreover, the New England cottontail and the eastern cottontail look nearly identical.[9] As a result, it is difficult to determine the New England cottontails' distribution.[9] The NYSDEC's New England Cottontail Initiative encourages rabbit hunters to submit whole heads from rabbits they have harvested east of the Hudson River to the Department so they can be examined to help determine the range.[9]
According to the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, the New England cottontail occurs on Nantucket. Formerly, the species was thought to be extirpated on the island since the late 1990s, but the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and FWS believes that because the island still contained large shrubland habitat areas, there might still be a remnant New England cottontail population. In 2013, a DNA sample from a rabbit captured on Nantucket Conservation Foundation-owned Ram Pasture property in 2011 tested positive as a New England cottontail, showing that the rabbit still exists on Nantucket.[14]
The New England cottontail is a habitat specialist.[2] It thrives in early successional forests—young forests (usually less than twenty-five years old) with a dense understory of thick, tangled vegetation (scrubland/brushland), preferably of blueberry or mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia).[2][8][11] Studies indicate that these forests matured into closed-canopy stands and the shrub layer began to thin in the 1960s, the New England cottontail habit declined.[2][11]
New England cottontails prefer woodlands with higher elevation or northern latitudes.[8] They create nests in depressions, some 12 cm (4.7 in) deep by 10 cm (3.9 in) wide, lining them with grasses and fur.[8] According to studies, New England cottontails "rarely venture more than 5 m from cover."[8]
Known predators of New England cottontails include weasels (Mustela and Neogale sp.), domestic cats (Felis catus), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), fishers (Pekania pennanti),[15] birds of prey (Falconiformes), coyotes (Canis latrans), and bobcats (Lynx rufus).[8] Past predators may have included gray wolves (Canis lupus), eastern cougars (Puma concolor), wolverines (Gulo gulo), and Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis). To avoid predators, the New England cottontails run for cover; "freeze" and rely on their cryptic coloration; or, when running, follow a zig-zag pattern to confuse the predator. Because New England cottontail habitat is small and has less vegetative cover, they must forage more often in the open, leaving them vulnerable.[8]
New England cottontails breed two to three times a year.[8] Generally, the testes of the male New England cottontails begin to enlarge in late December.[8] The breeding season varies based on local elevation and latitude, and can span from January to September. The breeding season in Connecticut lasts from mid-March to mid-September, while the breeding season in Maine lasts from April to August.[8] Pregnant female New England cottontails appear between April and August.[8] The gestation period is around twenty-eight days. Litter size ranges from three to eight, with an average of 5.2 (as given by one source)[8] or 3.5 (as given by another).[2] Generally, cottontails who live in more northern habitats have shorter gestation periods and larger litters, so they produce more litters during warmer weather.[8]
During the mating season, "male New England cottontails form breeding groups around dominant females in areas of the habitat with plentiful food and good cover."[8] New England cottontails conduct a courtship display involving running and jumping, including jumping of one rabbit over the other.[8] "Though linear hierarchies for female cottontails are not clearly defined, once paired off, the unreceptive female demonstrates dominance over the male during nesting, parturition [birth] and nursing to avoid harassment by males."[8] Generally New England cottontails will "copulate again immediately following parturition."[8]
Like all cottontails, the New England cottontail has a short lifespan, typically surviving no more than three years in the wild.[8] Moreover, an average of only 15 percent of young survive their first year.[8] New England cottontails reach sexual maturity early, at no more than one year old, and many juvenile New England cottontails will breed in their first season.[8]
Young are born naked with their eyes closed.[8] Parental investment is minimal: there is no investment by male cottontails, and female cottontails nurse their young in the nest for about 16 days, often having mated again by the time the juveniles have left the nest.[8]
New England cottontails are herbivores whose diet varies based on the season and local forage opportunities. In the spring and summer, the New England cottontails primarily eats herbaceous plants (including leaves, stems, wood, bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds) from grasses and forbs. Beginning in the fall and continuing into the winter, New England cottontails transition to mostly woody plants.[2][8]
The New England cottontail has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996.[2] The species is a candidate for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act (see United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species of mammals) and is listed as endangered on state-level lists of Maine and New Hampshire.[11]
The New England cottontail is listed as "vulnerable" because of its decreasing population and reduction in suitable habitat. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is surveying suitable habitat for this species. Due to its rarity, elusiveness, and the fact that it is nearly identical to the Eastern cottontail, DNA analysis of fecal pellets one of the best ways to identify New England cottontail populations. New England cottontails are listed as "endangered" in New Hampshire and Maine, "Extirpated" in Vermont and Quebec, "species of special concern" in New York and Connecticut, and a "species of special interest" in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Surveys are being conducted to identify areas for creating suitable habitat and to identify areas with suitable habitat that may contain remnant populations. Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Connecticut are primary areas that may hold populations of the species. The USFWS has discovered populations in Nantucket and Eastern Connecticut. Additional surveys are being done to find more remnant populations in New England and New York.
In 2013, the State of Connecticut embarked on a habitat restoration project in Litchfield County, clearing 57 acres of mature woods to create a meadowland and second-growth forest needed by the rabbit.[16]
The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), also called the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare, wood rabbit, or cooney, is a species of cottontail rabbit represented by fragmented populations in areas of New England, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York. This species bears a close resemblance to the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), which has been introduced in much of the New England cottontail home range. The eastern cottontail is now more common in it.
Litvaitis et al. (2006) estimated that the current area of occupancy in its historic range is 12,180 km2 (4,700 sq mi) - some 86% less than the occupied range in 1960. Because of this decrease in this species' numbers and habitat, the New England cottontail is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Cottontail hunting has been restricted in some areas where the eastern and New England cottontail species coexist in order to protect the remaining New England cottontail population.
Rabbits require habitat patches of at least 12 acres to maintain a stable population. In New Hampshire, the number of suitable patches dropped from 20 to 8 in the early 2000s. The ideal habitat is 25 acres of continuous early successional habitat within a larger landscape that provides shrub wetlands and dense thickets. Federal funding has been used for habitat restoration work on state lands, including the planting of shrubs and other growth critical to the rabbit's habitat. Funding has also been made available to private landowners who are willing to create thicket-type brush habitat which doesn't have much economic value.
