365 Urban Species. #169: Eastern Cottontail

[urbpan]

Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: Franklin Park, Boston.

Urban species #168: Eastern cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus

Encountering a rabbit in the city tells us more about that city than it does about rabbits. It indicates that city values green space, and contains parks with open areas and relatively undisturbed fields and rough shrubby woods. The eastern cottontail is common enough in the suburbs and countryside of the northeast, but is not thought of as an urban species by most people. Similar to rats and mice in their ability to breed prolifically (sexually mature at 2-3 months, litters of up to 8, up to 4 litters per year), they are restricted by their habitat needs. They require undisturbed cover in order to breed--old stone walls, or overgrown shrubs and brambles. Boston's Emerald Necklace contains many linear miles of cottontail habitat, from Franklin Park, where we saw one today, up through Jamaica Plain, Brighton, and the Charles River Esplanade. I even saw one nibbling the weeds next to the Science Museum one afternoon.

Other cities may have other rabbits. The European rabbit (from which pet and meat rabbits were domesticated) has been introduced to many places, including, disastrously, Australia. They are common sights in the hedgerows and fields near cities in that continent as well as throughout Europe and Asia. In North America, our native rabbits are called cottontails to distinguish them from their Eurasian relatives. In the North and West of North America there are hares and jackrabbits, longer-legged lagomorphs that may take long strides through the edges of cities in those areas. All rabbits need a variety of plants available to feed on, and cover in which to hide. Cities that provide these sufficiently may also have rabbits.

Comments

[rwblackbird.livejournal.com]

Amazing photo

[ex-wellread.livejournal.com]

I guess the Denver south 'burbs must be friendly to rabbits because I see them around. I once saw a red fox by the Platte River in Denver! But I don't think I've seen rabbits in Denver.

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

Have you been to Lovell's Island (one of the Harbor Islands)? They have wild (introduced, obviously) hares there - so cute! And big!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I haven't--there was some discussion of it when we went to Spectacle Island, and I think someone said that it's not currently open to the public.

[plantgirl.livejournal.com]

Bunny!

::bouncy bouncy::

[violet-serene.livejournal.com]

Here in Duluth, in a neighborhood called Park Point, several years ago someone released a pair of domestic rabbits, and they bred all over tarnation and probably crossbred with the local cottontails, so now Park Point is infested with hundreds of pet store bunnies and variations thereof. The only link I could find (http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200005/08_kelleherb_bunnies-m/) sadly does not a have a picture of the black and white mutant bunnies.

(The mutant bunnies are really only in the neighborhood section of Park Point. Past all the rich people houses there is a 4 mile nature trail that is full of all sorts of shorebirds and warblers and beach grass and old growth pines and other things that are much cooler than mutant bunnies.)

[violet-serene.livejournal.com]

(Of course right after I hit "Post comment" I find something I could have linked to for Park Point: Park Point (http://www.ci.duluth.mn.us/city/parksandrecreation/Secondarypages/parkpointtrail.htm).)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I had no idea there was a population of feral European rabbits in Duluth--very interesting!

I don't think that European rabbits can hybridize with eastern cottontails--I don't know 100% sure, but I haven't found anything indicating they can, and usually animals in different Genera (European rabbits are Oryctolagus cuniculus) can't interbreed. I won't say they never can, because there is some evidence that mallards can hybridize with ducks outside of their Genus.

Thanks for the very cool information!

[cowpewter.livejournal.com]

I guess Florida must have wild European rabbits then too. When I was a lot younger, I had two lop-eared rabbits, Frisky and Carrot. Frisky was what I assume would be called agouti (I know it's called agouti in rats, but not sure about rabbits) - that flecked brown wild-type coloration. We let them have the run of the yard on nice afternoons, secured with a collar tied to a rope tied to a post. My dad had them out to play in the yard one day, and went inside for a few minutes to use the bathroom, and when he came back, he found Frisky had slipped her collar and was gone. We lived in the middle of the woods, on a dirt road, and knew that there were wild rabbits around, so we hoped that she managed to find an okay life in the wild.

Well, apparently she did, because the next spring we saw a whole litter of baby bunnies munching on our lawn, and a good chunk of them had lop ears, which I can't imagine happens that often in the wild.

[http://users.livejournal.com/purplebunnie_/]

Hooray! Thank you! I'm glad cotton caught one on the camera!

*happy dance*

[harrietbrown.livejournal.com]

Last summer, when my circle was doing a ritual in a public park here on Staten Island, a rabbit stopped by. It was very bold and of course, a friend and I went after it with cameras blazing. So cute! I believe it was a cottontail. Small and light brown.