Mammal Web Page


Cottontail Rabbit
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Lagomorpha
Family	Leporige
Genus	Sylvilagus
Species	floridanus

Description

The cottontail rabbit has long ears long tail and short white tail. An adult is 15-18 inches long and 2-3 Pounds. It's color varies from gray to brown and has a rust colored patch on the neck.

Habitat

They are attracted to edges of fields for cover, fields with early seasonal growth, or weedy habitats. They prefer a mixture of grass, and wildflowers along with weeds and thorny shrubs. A female habitat can be 15 acres where as a male could be 100.

Range

The Eastern cottontails range is the eastern and central U.S.

Food

They are basically vegetarian, they eat grass and legumes, such as clovers a lespedezas, dandelions, ragweed, prickly lettuce, soy beans, wheat, corn, twigs and bark.

Life Cycle

They have a gestation period of 28 days. It can have 5-7 litters and 4-5 babies at a time during the year. They breed for the first time the following spring after their birth.

Survival

There average life span is less than 2 years in the wild. Up to 10 years in captivity. Important factors needed for my animals survival are: Food like grass, clovers, wildflowers, and lespedezas. They also need shelter like burrows and brush piles to survive.

Facts

Three facts are:

They don't construct their own burrows but instead occupy other ones made by other animals.
Eastern cottontails don't take to water easily, but they can swim if necessary.
They can run up to 29 kilometers per hour.

Human Impact

The human impact on the cottontail is negative because humans build developments on open land so there won't be enough land and the cotton tails might die.