Eastern Cottontail
Sylvilagus floridanus
The Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) is a resident across most of the eastern United States. The first five shots shown here were taken in Starr Co.
Eastern cottontails are prolific breeders. In southern Texas the breeding season is year-long, although the frequency of breeding does fluctuate throughout the year.
Eastern cottontails eat their own droppings! Cottontails often eat on the run; trying to evade predators. They might not properly digest food at the time they eat it. So when they are in protected shelter, they will re-eat droppings with undigested ...
The eastern cottontail mates between February and September. The female builds a nest in a depression in the ground and lines it with soft materials and fur from her chest. The female gives birth about a month after mating.
Eastern cottontails breed year-round. After a 28-day gestation period, a litter of 1-8 young is born. The nest is a fur- and grass-lined depression in the ground.
Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus. Common and found statewide. Primarily occurs in deciduous forests and forest edges, but also in grasslands, along fencerows, and in urban areas.
Eastern Cottontail
(Sylvilagus floridanus)
2 images
Eastern cottontails are prolific rabbits and can have up to seven litters a year. They have dense gray fur with longer black-tipped outer hairs (guard hairs).
The eastern cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) is found throughout the eastern two-thirds of the United States and south through Mexico. In this range, there are 12 subspecies with only one native to Indiana, Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsii.
811 South Florida flatwoods 812 North Florida flatwoods 813 Cutthroat seeps 814 Cabbage palm flatwoods 815 Upland hardwood hammocks 816 Cabbage palm hammocks 817 Oak hammocks 820 Everglades flatwoods PLANT COMMUNITIES : The eastern cottontail ...
They eat primarily small mammals, such as eastern cottontail rabbits, thirteen-lined ground squirrels, and white-footed mice. They occasionally eat birds, snakes, large insects and other large invertebrates.
Habits: Desert cottontails are usually found in dry, open upland habitats, whereas eastern cottontails in the same areas of western Kansas are restricted to riparian thickets along streams.
There are several species of cottontail rabbit, but the eastern cottontail is the most common. This ubiquitous animal can be found from Canada to South America and, in the United States, from the East Coast to the Great Plains.
What they eat: Coyotes are carnivorous (eat meat) -- they eat primarily small mammals, such as eastern cottontail rabbits, thirteen-lined ground squirrels, and white-footed mice.
The marsh rabbit is a slightly smaller, darker version of the more familiar eastern cottontail rabbit, which occurs in the eastern two-thirds of the United States and is best known for its conspicuous cotton puff tail.
Subgenus Sylvilagus: Desert Cottontail (S. audubonii) Â- Manzano Mountain Cottontail (S. cognatus) Â- Mexican Cottontail (S. cunicularis) Â- Eastern Cottontail (S. floridanus) Â- Tres Marias Rabbit (S. graysoni) Â- Mountain Cottontail (S. nuttallii) ...
Rabbits are born naked and blind; they are cared for in a nest. Hares are born furry and open-eyed; they are cared for in the open and can hop soon after birth. Examples: brown hare, jack rabbit (a hare), eastern cottontail rabbit.
 See also: Cottontail, Rabbit, Coyote, Cottontail Rabbit, Weasel
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