Description:
Eastern Cottontails can be distinguished from jack rabbits by its smaller size, and from other species of cottontails in Kansas by: 1) size, 2) color, and 3) relative ear size. The desert cottontail is smaller, lighter in color, and has longer ears; the swamp rabbit is larger, darker in color, and has relatively shorter, rounded ears. There is seasonal variation between the summer and winter coats. The fur is soft and long, rusty brown above in summer, grayish brown in winter, and intermixed in both seasons with black guard hairs. The nape of the neck bears a rusty-red patch. The underparts are whitish and the chest brownish. Tops of the forefeet are more buffy than the legs. The front feet have five toes whereas the hind feet have only four. The skull has a bony network along the sides of the upper part of the rostrum. All species of rabbits in Kansas have two pairs of upper incisor teeth. The posterior pair is immediately behind the large anterior pair, and is smaller and more peg-like. The sexes are alike.
Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):
Allen (4); Anderson (64); Barber (8); Barton (15); Bourbon (3); Butler (1); Chase (1); Chautauqua (5); Cherokee (15); Cheyenne (2); Clark (7); Clay (9); Cloud (1); Cowley (7); Crawford (8); Decatur (6); Dickinson (3); Douglas (96); Edwards (4); Ellis (96); Ellsworth (12); Finney (8); Ford (3); Franklin (6); Gove (7); Graham (2); Grant (4); Greeley (1); Greenwood (45); Hamilton (11); Harper (3); Harvey (18); Haskell (8); Hodgeman (1); Jackson (1); Jefferson (5); Jewell (1); Johnson (6); Kingman (117); Kiowa (2); Labette (7); Lane (1); Leavenworth (10); Lincoln (8); Linn (1); Logan (1); Lyon (12); Marion (5); Marshall (5); McPherson (3); Meade (20); Miami (43); Mitchell (4); Morton (7); Neosho (7); Ness (12); Norton (8); Osage (2); Osborne (2); Ottawa (2); Phillips (23); Pottawatomie (20); Pratt (1); Rawlins (4); Reno (2); Republic (1); Rice (2); Riley (14); Rooks (17); Rush (6); Russell (6); Saline (3); Scott (2); Sedgwick (13); Seward (2); Shawnee (3); Sheridan (4); Sherman (1); Smith (3); Stafford (15); Stanton (1); Sumner (2); Thomas (4); Trego (28); Wabaunsee (3); Wallace (1); Washington (2); Wichita (1); Wilson (2); Woodson (6);
Natural History:
Although the nest sites and resting shelters of these rabbits are exposed on the surface of the ground, subterranean burrows are used for escape from predators or for protection from heavy rain and snow. They may remain in holes for as long as two days after a heavy snow. Usually the holes are abandoned burrows dug by other mammals, such as woodchucks, which the cottontail takes over and modifies. Cottontails are solitary, and usually encountered near a resting shelter or "form," a slight depression on the surface of the ground protected overhead by a canopy of grass or low shrubs. Escape is by fast acceleration, with abrupt changes of direction for short distances. Being mainly a nocturnal animal, eastern cottontails are often seen in the evening, at night, or in the early morning, crossing or running along the road sides. In daytime they will sometimes "freeze" and become inconspicuous to escape detection. Open trails in grass or weeds lead to feeding areas. If approached very closely, a cottontail may thump its hind feet on the ground, and if captured, it often emits a high-pitched, shrill scream.
Eastern cottontails are active all year, but are more noticeable in winter when they make tracks in the snow. Because of their high reproductive rate, numbers increase rapidly. Rabbits show major multi-annual fluctuations in numbers. Some years rabbits seem to be everywhere whereas in other years they are seldom seen. When rabbit populations reach high levels., predators may increasingly avail themselves of rabbits as a rich food resource.
Adults may attain the following dimensions: total length 374-452 mm; tail 36-75 mm; hind foot 83-104 mm; ear 52-61 mm; weight 1-1.5 kilograms.
Food of the eastern cottontail is mainly green vegetation, and various kinds of plants are consumed according to availability. In winter tree bark is frequently eaten as an alternate food.
Cottontails are prolific breeders and can produce as many as six or seven litters during seven months between early spring and late autumn. A female can become pregnant at the same time she is nursing young from a previous litter. The gestation period is between 28 and 30 days, after which one to nine (usually three or four) young are born in a surface nest or ground depression lined with dry grasses, plant fibers, and fur from the female's chest. At birth the young are about four inches long and are naked, blind, and helpless. At one week they have hair and in ten days their eyes are open. At about two weeks the young are capable of leaving the nest, but continue to nurse for a while longer from the female's eight nipples. A full complement of teeth is attained in a month and after four to five weeks the young have separated from the female. It takes only four or five months for the young to mature and by the following spring they are ready to breed. Females from early litters may reproduce in the late summer or autumn following their birth.