Cottontail Rabbit Negative Footprint

Description

Cottontail Rabbit Negative Footprint measures 4.52 x 1.57 inches. Cottontail Rabbit Negative Footprint is museum quality and perfect for taking on nature walks to enhance educational hikes.

Rabbits’ hind feet are much larger than their fore feet. They have four pads on both fore and hind feet. Rabbits have five toes on the front feet and four toes on the hind feet. The size of the front tracks are 1 inch and the hind tracks are 4 inches.

The overall shape of the four tracks forms a group that tends to be elongated and rectangular in shape. The tracks left by the front feet leave two small, offset depressions because they are placed on the ground first, one after the other, when the rabbit jumps forward.

Their back feet land in front of their front paws leaving two larger depressions that look like parallel lines. Rabbits have small, round toes that are covered with fur, so it’s difficult to distinguish individual toes from their tracks.

Cottontail Rabbits are the leporid species in the genus Sylvilagus, found in the Americas. Most Sylvilagus species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat.

Most species live in nests called forms, and all have altricial young. An adult female averages three litters per year, which can occur in any season; occurrence, and litter size depend on several factors including time of the year, weather, and location. The average litter size is four but can range from as few as two to as many as eight.

Cottontail Rabbits or Lepus sylvaticus are prolific animals that can have multiple litters in a year, few of the resulting offspring survive to adulthood. Those that do grow very quickly and are full grown adults at only three months.

Cottontails can also be parasitized by botfly species including Cuterebra fontinella. Newborn cottontails are particularly vulnerable to these attacks.

Cottontail rabbits eat while on all fours. Cottontail rabbits typically only use their nose to move and adjust the position of the food that it places directly in front of its front paws on the ground.

The Cottontail Rabbit will turn the food with its nose to find the cleanest part of the vegetation to begin its meal. The only time a cottontail uses its front paws while feeding is when vegetation is above its head on a living plant, at which point the cottontail will lift its paw to bend the branch to bring the food within reach.

Cottontails are rarely found out of their burrows looking for food on windy days, because the wind interferes with their hearing capabilities. Hearing an incoming predator before they get close enough to attack is their primary defense mechanism.

Eastern Cottontail Rabbit Facts:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Scientific name: lagomorph–sylvilagus-floridanus
Genus: Sylvilagus
Type species: Lepus sylvaticus

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