Desert cottontail
Desert cottontail[1] | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Lagomorpha |
Family: | Leporidae |
Genus: | Sylvilagus |
Species: | S. audubonii
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Binomial name | |
Sylvilagus audubonii (Baird, 1858)
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Desert cottontail range |
The desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), also known as Audubon's cottontail, is a
Cottontails give birth to their kits in burrows vacated by other mammals. They sometimes cool off, or take refuge in scratched out shallow created depressions of their own making, using their front paws like a back hoe.[3] They are not usually active in the middle of the day, but can be observed foraging in the early morning, and early evening. Cottontails are rarely found out of their burrows looking for food on windy days, because the wind interferes with their ability to hear approaching predators, their primary defense mechanism.[4]
Lifespan
The lifespan of a cottontail that reaches adulthood averages less than two years, depending on the location.[5] Unfortunately for the cottontail, almost every local carnivore larger or faster than the lagomorph is its predator. Some predators, like snakes for example, are familiar with the area inhabited by the cottontails, and can catch and eat the young at will; the mother is unable to defend the litter. Although cottontails are highly active sexually, and mated pairs have multiple litters throughout the year, few young survive to adulthood. Those that survive grow quickly and are full grown at three months.[6]
Description
The desert cottontail is quite similar in appearance to the
Adults are 36 to 42 cm (14 to 17 in) long and weigh anywhere from 700 to 1,200 g (1.5 to 2.6 lb).[9] The tail is 3.0 to 6.0 cm (1.2 to 2.4 in), ears are 6 to 9 cm (2.4 to 3.5 in) long and the hindfeet are large, about 7 to 9 cm (2.8 to 3.5 in) in length.[9] There is little sexual dimorphism, but females tend to be larger than the males, but have much smaller home ranges, about 4,000 m2 (1 acre) compared with about 61,000 m2 (15 acres) for a male.[10]
Distribution and habitat
The desert cottontail is found throughout the
Behavior
Diet and feeding
Cottontails are
The desert cottontail, like all cottontails, eats on all fours. It can only use its nose to move and adjust the position of the food that it places directly in front of its front paws on the ground. The cottontail turns the food with its nose to find the cleanest part of the vegetation (free of sand and inedible parts) to begin its meal. The only time a cottontail uses its front paws to enable eating is when vegetation is above its head on a living plant. The cottontail then lifts a paw to bend the branch and bring the food within reach.[18]
Thermoregulation
Due to variable temperatures of their habitats, desert cottontails must be adequate thermoregulators to minimize water loss during the hotter seasons and require shaded areas of their environment to conduct evaporative water loss through thermal heat transfer. In open-desert areas, they can withstand for a short period extremely high temperatures of around 45 °C (113 °F), and have a large evaporative water loss capacity of around 1.5% body mass/hour, though cottontails can withstand longer in an ideal environment with shaded areas. To cope with evaporative heat loss, they do panting and undergo changes in production of their basal metabolic rate in relation to the ambient temperature of the environment. Ears of desert cottontails make up 14% of their body size and may help with thermoregulation.[19]
Predators and threats
Many desert animals prey on cottontails, including
Habitat loss due to land clearing and cattle grazing may severely affect the population of the desert cottontail.[2] Human-induced fires are also a potential threat for desert cottontail populations.[2] Another factor is its competition with the black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), because both have the same diet, and share the same habitat.[22] When a season has been particularly dry, there is less plant life to go around. The cottontail does not fear the jackrabbit, in fact the jackrabbit is very skittish and will retreat from a confrontation in most instances. However, the black-tailed jackrabbit is much bigger, and consumes much more food at eating times.[2]
Weather and food supply
An extremely wet winter season means increased plant life in the spring, and thus increases in cottontail populations. However, if the wet winter is followed by a particularly dry summer, the plant life dries up quickly due to the extreme desert summer temperatures, and can have the opposite effect, and can lead to hunger for the now over-populated cottontails.[23]
Status and conservation
Since 1996, the desert cottontail has been rated of
References
- OCLC 62265494.
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ "Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)". tpwd.texas.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-06-11. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
- ^ "Rabbits and Hares". Archived from the original on 2015-07-31. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
- ^ "Desert cottontail". Natural Science Research Laboratory, Museum of Texas Tech University. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- ^ "Sylvilagus floridanus". 2002.
- ISBN 0395935962.
- ^ Larsen, C.J. (December 1993). Report to the Fish and Game Commission: Status review of the riparian brush rabbit Sylvilagus bachmani riparius in California (PDF) (Report). California Department of Fish and Game, Wildlife Management Division, Nongame Bird and Mammal Section. p. 6.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-607-32048-7.
- ^ a b c "Desert cottontail rabbit". Nevada Department of Wildlife. Archived from the original on 7 January 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- JSTOR 3503835.
- ^ ISBN 9782831700199.
- ^ "Nevada Department of Wildlife". www.ndow.org. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-477-31003-8.
- ^ Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Units 1-3, Construction: Environmental Impact Statement. 1975.
- ISBN 978-1-421-40126-3.
- JSTOR 3800237.
- ^ "Small mammals" (PDF).
- PMID 4744934.
- ^ "Eastern Cottontail". Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
- ISBN 978-0-761-4442-51.
- ISBN 978-0-195-13582-4.
- ^ "10,000 years of rabbit bones".
- ^ "Grass and Hay for rabbits".
External links
- "Sylvilagus audubonii". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 10 February 2006.
- Desert USA page on the desert cottontail