Desert cottontail

Desert cottontail[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Genus: Sylvilagus
Species:
S. audubonii
Binomial name
Sylvilagus audubonii
(Baird, 1858)
Desert cottontail range

The desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), also known as Audubon's cottontail, is a New World cottontail rabbit, and a member of the family Leporidae. Unlike the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), they do not form social burrow systems, but compared with some other leporids, they are extremely tolerant of other individuals in their vicinity.

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]

  1. ^ Hoffman, R.S.; Smith, A.T. (2005). "Order Lagomorpha". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ Smith, A.T.; Brown, D.E. (2019). "Sylvilagus audubonii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T41297A45190821. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T41297A45190821.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)". tpwd.texas.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-06-11. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  4. ^ "Rabbits and Hares". Archived from the original on 2015-07-31. Retrieved 2015-06-29.