Gray rabbit, Brush rabbit, Wood hare, Wood rabbit, Cooney, New England cottontail
The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis ), also called the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare, wood rabbit, or cooney, is a species of cottontail rabbit represented by fragmented populations in areas of New England, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York. This species bears a close resemblance to the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus ), which has been introduced in much of the New England cottontail home range. The eastern cottontail is now more common in it.
Litvaitis et al. (2006) estimated that the current area of occupancy in its historic range is 12,180 km2 (4,700 sq mi) - some 86% less than the occupied range in 1960. Because of this decrease in this species' numbers and habitat, the New England cottontail is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Cottontail hunting has been restricted in some areas where the eastern and New England cottontail species coexist in order to protect the remaining New England cottontail population.
Rabbits require habitat patches of at least 12 acres to maintain a stable population. In New Hampshire, the number of suitable patches dropped from 20 to 8 in the early 2000s. The ideal habitat is 25 acres of continuous early successional habitat within a larger landscape that provides shrub wetlands and dense thickets. Federal funding has been used for habitat restoration work on state lands, including the planting of shrubs and other growth critical to the rabbit's habitat. Funding has also been made available to private landowners who are willing to create thicket-type brush habitat which doesn't have much economic value.
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CrepuscularCrepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight (that is, the periods of dawn and dusk). This is distinguished from diurnal...
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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CoprophageCoprophage animals are those that consume feces. Domesticated and wild mammals are sometimes coprophagic, and in some species, this forms an essent...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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JumpingJumping (saltation) can be distinguished from running, galloping, and other gaits where the entire body is temporarily airborne by the relatively l...
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BrowsingBrowsing is a type of herbivory in which an herbivore (or, more narrowly defined, a folivore) feeds on leaves, soft shoots, or fruits of high-growi...
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GrazingGrazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on plants such as grasses, or other multicellular organisms such as algae. In agriculture...
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AltricialAltricial animals are those species whose newly hatched or born young are relatively immobile. They lack hair or down, are not able to obtain food ...
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CursorialA cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. chee...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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Dominance hierarchyA dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social gr...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe New England cottontail is a medium-sized rabbit that looks nearly identical to the Eastern cottontail. The New England cottontail has a dark brown coat with a "penciled effect" and a tail with white undersides. It also has black hair between and on the anterior surface of the ear. Females of this species are larger than males.
New England cottontails occur in areas of the New England region of the United States, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York. These rabbits are habitat specialists. They thrive in early successional forests - young forests (usually less than twenty-five years old) with a dense understory of thick, tangled vegetation (scrubland/brushland), preferably of blueberry or mountain laurel. They prefer woodlands with higher elevations or northern latitudes.
New England cottontails don't hibernate and are active during dawn, dusk, and at night. Outside of the breeding season, they lead a solitary life and rarely venture more than 5 m from cover. To avoid predators, New England cottontails run for cover; "freeze" and rely on their cryptic coloration; or, when running, follow a zig-zag pattern to confuse the predator. Because their habitat is small and has a less vegetative cover, New England cottontails forage more often in the open and thus are more vulnerable to predation.
New England cottontails are herbivores and their diet varies based on the season and local forage opportunities. In the spring and summer, they primarily eat herbaceous plants (including leaves, stems, wood, bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds) from grasses and forbs. Beginning in the fall and continuing into the winter, New England cottontails consume mostly woody plants.
New England cottontails breed two to three times a year. The breeding season varies based on local elevation and latitude and can span from January to September. The breeding season in Connecticut lasts from mid-March to mid-September, while the breeding season in Maine lasts from April to August. Pregnant females usually appear between April and August. The gestation period is around 28 days and litter size ranges from 3 to 8 kittens. Generally, cottontails who live in more northern habitats have shorter gestation periods and larger litters, so they produce more litters during warmer weather. During the mating season, males form breeding groups around dominant females in areas with plentiful food and good cover. New England cottontails perform a courtship display that includes running and jumping and jumping of one rabbit over the other. They create nests in depressions, some 12 cm deep by 10 cm wide, lining them with grasses and fur. Kittens are born naked with their eyes closed. Parental investment is minimal: there is no investment by males, and females nurse their young in the nest for about 16 days, often having mated again by the time the juveniles have left the nest. The young become reproductively mature early, at no more than one year old, and many juveniles will breed in their first season.
The New England cottontail suffers greatly from its decreasing population and habitat destruction from the reduced thicket habitat. Before European settlement, New England cottontails were likely found along river valleys, where disturbances in the forest - such as beaver activity, ice storms, hurricanes, and wildfires - promoted thicket growth. The clearing of much of the New England forest, as well as development, has eliminated a large portion of New England cottontail habitat. Other factors which contributed to the decline of New England cottontails include the introduction of Eastern cottontails, the introduction of invasive plant species, and an increase in the population and density of White-tailed deer in the same range as the New England cottontail because deer eat many of the same plants and damage the density of understory plants providing vital thicket habitat.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the New England cottontail is 17,000 individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are decreasing.
