Eastern Cottontail Rabbit - (Sylvilagus floridanus)
Cottontail describes the characteristic appearance of the rabbit's tail, for when it is raised, the white undersurface is conspicuous and resembles a fluff of cotton.
Description
The cottontail is a medium-sized mammal with long ears; large hind legs; shorter front legs; a short fluffy tail; and soft fur. The upper parts vary from reddish to grayish brown sprinkled with black; the underparts are grayish white except for a brownish chest; and the tops of the hind feet are tan to whitish. Individuals vary from 14-19 inches (355-482 mm) in length and from 2- 3 1/4 pounds (.9-1.4 kg) in weight.
Distribution and abundance
In most years, cottontails are common in all counties of Missouri, but their numbers vary greatly due to differences in the amounts and kinds of cover where they live.
Prior to 1955, the cottontail population was extremely high in Missouri, but since that time, intensive and extensive land uses have accelerated, resulting in a greater loss of cottontail habitat and a downward trend in the population.
Habitat and home
Cottontails prefer an open brushy or forest-border type of cover. While they may venture into the open, they usually do not go far from the sanctuary of some good cover such as brushy and weedy fence rows, hedge fences, thickets, dense high grass or brush piles.
During most of the year, the cottontail's home is a resting place or form concealed in a dense clump of grass, under a brush pile or in a thicket. For her young, the female digs a nest cavity in the ground which she lines and covers with grass and fur plucked from her belly. The nest is commonly placed in a well-drained spot.
Habits
In Missouri, an individual rabbit usually spends its entire life in an area varying from l-5 acres (.4-2 ha) in good habitat, but possibly including as much as 15 acres (6 ha) where food and cover conditions are poorer. Cottontails often move along regular paths, wearing trails or runways in the vegetation, snow or under brush piles. They are active mostly at night and early in the morning, spending the rest of the day in their forms.
Foods
Rabbits feed almost entirely on plants, their choice depending upon seasonal availability. The three most preferred foods during all seasons are bluegrass, wheat and white clover. Other choice foods that are heavily used when available are red clover, Korean lespedeza, small and common crabgrass, timothy and common chess. Some sedges, forbs and cultivated plants also are relished. When heavy snow covers their usual foods, they eat buds, twigs, bark and sprouts of shrubs, vines and trees. Rabbits can subsist on a diet of these woody plants but do not maintain a healthy condition.
Reproduction
The breeding season extends from mid-February through September. With an early start to the breeding season due to mild weather, a female could produce as many as eight litters per year although she probably has considerably fewer. There are from one to nine young per litter. At birth, the young are about five inches (127 mm) long, are practically naked and have their eyes and ears closed. During the first week, they become completely furred and their eyes and ears open. They leave the nest from 13 to 16 days after birth. Most young breed for the first time in the spring following their birth, although some born early in the breeding season may breed late in their first summer.
Importance
Up to two million rabbits are shot for sport annually in Missouri. At 1 1/2 pounds of meat per rabbit, the food value of this cottontail rabbit crop is considerable.
Many wild carnivorous animals feed on cottontails, and when this source of food is readily available, predation is less on other game species and livestock. By converting plant food into animal matter, rabbits constitute an important link in the food chain of life. The fur is not durable and thus has little commercial value.
Management
One of the best means of making land attractive to cottontails is to provide plenty of cover for nesting, escape from predators, shelter from the weather, and desirable feeding areas. The following types of cover contribute to good rabbit habitat: brushy and weedy fence rows; idle farmland; brush piles near other cover; heavy mixed stands of grasses like timothy, redtop, orchard grass and improved pasture systems; Osage orange or Japanese rose fences; and blackberry thickets. Woodchucks, whose burrows are used by cottontails for escape from enemies and for winter shelter, should be encouraged in areas where rabbits are desired.
The best measure for preventing damage to individual trees, gardens or orchards is rabbitproof wire. Heavy shooting and persistent trapping in limited areas may reduce damage. Chemical repellents help discourage rabbits.
To avoid acquiring tularemia, which affects some rabbits, hunting should be done in cold weather when the danger of handling infected animals is least; sluggish animals should be avoided; and rabbit meat should be thoroughly cooked. Modern drugs now eliminate the dangerous consequences of this disease.
