Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
Whether it is pursued behind a pack of beagles or it is
encountered on some early morning in your own backyard, the
Eastern cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) is one of
Oklahoma’s most well known and beloved wildlife species.
The cottontail rabbit has been a huge success in adapting to
man’s manipulations of the environment. When homesteaders first
came to this state rabbits found new garden buffets, and as
subdivisions now go up in our metropolitan areas, rabbits find
remaining niches of cover to raise their young. They can be
found from southern Canada to South America, predominantly east
of the Rocky Mountains.
Mostly ears and legs, an adult cottontail measures about 16
inches and weighs between two and three pounds. It has soft
brown hair and a white underbelly, as well as its namesake
cotton ball-like tail. Similar to the whitetail deer, the
cottontail will raise its tail like a warning flag when fleeing
danger.
Cottontails can be found in a variety habitats, but are most
abundant in open country. Rabbits will most often be found
anywhere two types of cover meet, such as fence rows, or in
tangled thickets in pastures or along roadsides. Rabbits also
show a preference to areas not far from a water source whether
it be a pond, creek or spring.
Cottontails rely on shrubs or woody vegetation for escape cover.
Just like Briar Rabbit, the denser and thornier the cover is,
the better the rabbit likes it. A rabbit’s home range varies
depending on the quality of habitat. On average, a female
cottontail's home range is five to 15 acres, while the male's
may be as much as 100 acres.
A cottontail will eat just about anything green, but use the
most nutritious foods first, such as legumes, clover and young
forbs. A young rabbit will consume large amounts of grass and
weeds like dandelions and ragweed. During the winter when its
normal food sources are scarce, rabbits will resort to eating
shrubs and tree buds. Rabbits are most active during the early
morning and late evening hours.
Cottontails are one of the primary links of the food chain and
wherever they are found serve as essential prey for predators.
Young rabbits in particular are an important food source for a
variety of species from coyotes to red-tailed hawks. As a result
of this predation, a cottontail that lives more than a year is
in the minority. However the rabbit is not a helpless victim, it
can jump distances of up to eight feet at a time and can make
lightning quick changes in direction to elude predators.
Cottontails begin to court as early as February. A litter of
four to seven bunnies is born after a gestation period of 27
days. The mother rabbit feeds her young milk twice a day at dawn
and dusk. To protect the helpless, hairless bunnies from the
cold, the mother builds a nest from surrounding vegetation and
the soft fur from her belly. She covers the young in the nest to
keep them warm and dry when she goes out to feed
The young rabbits grow very fast, and after only a week, the
bunnies have fur, and their eyes and ears are open. After two
weeks, the bunnies take their first hops away from the nest and
a few days later they leave the nest to fend for themselves.
Rabbits are quite prolific and may produce multiple litters; in
a year with good weather and habitat a female rabbit may produce
six litters in a single year.
Cottontail rabbits have historically been an important game
animal in Oklahoma. Their prolific numbers have provided
generations of hunters with hours of sport and countless meals
of tender rabbit.
Whether in a windswept prairie or quiet suburban yard, the
cottontail rabbit will continue to be one of the state’s most
popular wildlife species.