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Wild rabbit predators8/14/2023 ![]() ![]() Thermoregulation ĭue to the variable temperature of living conditions, 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. The cottontail then lifts a paw to bend the branch and bring the food within reach. 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 turns the food with its nose to find the cleanest part of the vegetation (free of sand and inedible parts) to begin its meal. 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 desert cottontail, like all cottontails, eats on all fours. Like most lagomorphs, it is coprophagic, re-ingesting and chewing its own feces to extract the nutrients as effectively as possible. moisture content, abundance, nutrition value, etc.). Due to seasonality and changes in moisture conditions of their habitat, cottontails adjust their diets based on many influential factors that impact the seasonal changes of vegetation (i.e. It rarely needs to drink, getting its water mostly from the plants it eats or from dew. They also feed on the leaves and peas of mesquite, barks, fallen fruit, the juicy pads of prickly pear and twigs of shrubs. Behavior Diet and feeding Ĭottontails are herbivores, with 90% of their diet consisting of grass. It is also frequently found in the riparian zones in arid regions. It is particularly associated with the dry near-desert grasslands of the American southwest, though it is also found in less arid habitats such as pinyon-juniper forest. It is found at heights of up to 1,830 m (6,000 ft). Westwards its range extends to central Nevada and southern California and Baja California, touching the Pacific Ocean. Its eastern range extends barely into the Great Plains. The desert cottontail is found throughout the Western United States from eastern Montana to western Texas, and in Northern and Central Mexico. All species under the family Leporidae have the same dental formula. The dental formula for Sylvilagus audubonii is 2.0.3.3 1.0.3.3= 28. There is little sexual dimorphism, but females tend to be larger than the males, but have much smaller home ranges, about 1 acre (4,000 m 2) compared with about 15 acres (61,000 m 2) for a male. The tail is 30 to 60 mm (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. Like all cottontail rabbits, the desert cottontail has a greyish-brown, rounded tail with a broad white edge and white underside, which is visible as it runs away. It is social among its peers, often gathering in small groups to feed. ![]() The desert cottontail is quite similar in appearance to the European rabbit, though its ears are larger and are more often carried erect. Those that survive grow quickly and are full grown at three months. Although cottontails are highly active sexually, and mated pairs have multiple litters throughout the year, few young survive to adulthood. 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. Unfortunately for the cottontail, almost every local carnivore larger or faster than the lagomorph is its predator. The lifespan of a cottontail that reaches adulthood averages less than two years, depending on the location. ![]()
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