Description
New England Cottontails forage alone, and groom themselves but not each other. They feed on grasses and clover in the summer, and when those are not available, turn to twigs and forbs. They maintain relatively small home ranges of less than one hectare (2.5 acres). Females are slightly larger than males, but males tend to have slightly larger home ranges. Three to eight are born in a litter, and the female nurses them for about 16 days.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
- Original description: Bangs, O., 1895. The geographical distribution of the eastern races of the cottontail (Lepus sylvaticus Bach.) with a description of a new subspecies, and with notes on the distribution of the northern hare (Lepus americanus Erxl.) in the east, p. 405. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 26:404-414.
