Home Range and Movements of the Eastern Cottontail in KansasJanes, Donald W.
Science
Home Range and Movements of the Eastern Cottontail in Kansas
Janes, Donald W.
Cottontails
Cottontails range over a larger area in summer than they do in winter
because suitable cover and food is more abundant in summer. One
cottontail (Figure 2, upper left) lived in a woodland home range of 4.6
acres in the winter but increased the range to 6.5 acres in summer by
crossing the narrow overgrown end of a field to another woodland area.
Another cottontail (Figure 3, top part) lived in a woodland home range
of 7.9 acres in winter but in summer increased the home range to 9.5
acres by including also a part of an adjacent field. Other cottontails
increased their home ranges in summer by five to 15 per cent.
On the average, male cottontails had a larger (by 13 per cent) home
range than females probably because of the increased activity of males
in the breeding season and the decreased activity of females when
pregnant and caring for young. Nevertheless, some of the largest home
ranges measured were those of females.
[Illustration: FIG 3. Diagrams showing home ranges of cottontails in
relation to woodland and open fields on the study area. One inch equals
approximately 545 feet. Each home range is shown slightly rounded from
the polygonal figures obtained by connecting actual points where the
animal was recorded. _Upper._ Winter range of 7.9 acres (solid line)
increased to 9.5 acres in summer by area in dashed line. _Lower._
Overlapping home ranges of four of the many cottontails living on the
study area. Each of the four cottontails occupied approximately the
same home range throughout the year.]
The size of the home range in immature cottontails varies between 0.1
acre and 4.0 acres, depending on the age and size of the individual.
Fourteen young cottontails between three and six weeks of age did not
leave areas of approximately one acre in each instance. Nine
cottontails between six weeks and 18 weeks of age lived in areas of
about two acres. By the time cottontails are four to five months old
they inhabit a home range of four to eight acres.
One cottontail (Figure 2, lower left) born in July, 1954, was estimated
to have wandered over approximately 0.25 acre at an age of three weeks.
In September this cottontail occupied a home range of one and one-half
acres. By December it was five months old and occupied an area of about
eight acres. In the next year it enlarged its home range to 11.5 acres.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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