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Cotton Tail Rabbit
Sylvilagus floridanus
by Miles Linsmith
Classification
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Lagomorapha
Leporidae
Sylvilagus
Sylvilagus floridanus
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Physical Description
Cotton tails have long ears and a short, fluffy tail. Their
hind legs are longer than their front legs. The upper body is usually reddish
brown with a white under side. Including the underside of the tail. Eastern
cotton tails usually weigh from 2 to 4 pounds and have a total length of 12
to 20 inches.
Diet and Feeding Habits
Cotton tails are herbivorous, eating a wide variety of of
plants materials. In the summer and spring they uasully feed on plants such
as wild grasses and clover, but will also eat garden vegetables, if avaliable.
In the winter they will eat woody plants.
Habitat
Cotton tails are most likely found in and around overgrown
fields, brushy forest edges and other habitats with mixtures of herbaceous
and shrubby plants. They can also be found living close to humans as long
as there is escape cover available.
Reproduction
Cotton tails begin mating
in March. The first litter of 4 to 7 bunnies is born 26 to 28 days later.
The bunnies weigh 28 gm are hairless when they are born and have clossed ears
and eyes. Over the course of the next year cotton tails can have 4 to7 litters
a year with 5 to 10 babies. During the first two weeks of life, more than
two thirds of them die of starvation. They also die if a predator finds them
or their mother dies.
Role in the Ecosystem
The cotton tail rabbit would be found in all ecosystems
that include woodlands, forests, fields and snowy areas.
Bibliography
Reproduction:
http://www.cottontailrabbithunting.com/about_the_rabbit.htm
Classification:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottontail_rabbit
Ecosystem:
worldbook
Ehyslical desription:
http://wwwiwildwnc.org/af/eastrerncottontailrabbit.html
Diet and feeding habitats
http://wwwiwildwnc.org/af/eastrerncottontailrabbit.html
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