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
When foraging, cottontails moved 175 to 325 feet per day, mostly near
woodland edges, and used from 10 to 20 per cent of the home range. When
escaping from predators cottontails moved 30 to 1200 feet and used 5 to
70 per cent of their home ranges, depending on the type of pursuit.
Some cottontails that were followed, ran in almost circular courses for
as far as 3000 feet and covered as much as 90 per cent of their home
ranges. Paths or runways were not used except in deep snow or very
dense vegetation. Movements were limited by deep snow. When
temperatures were unfavorably high or low, cottontails sought cover
deep in the woods or under rock outcrops, and in dry stream beds. In
moderate weather resting places in grass forms, brush piles and
thickets were used.
Both males and females moved farther in the breeding season than in the
rest of the year, but females that were caring for young in summer and
late spring moved shorter distances than they did when not so engaged
in autumn and winter.
Cottontails were most active at dawn and especially, dusk, and were
more active on dark nights than on moonlight nights. Cottontails were
most active when the air temperature was between 0 deg. F. and 33 deg. F. and
when rain was not falling. Activity increased as the percentage of
ground covered by snow increased and as the abundance of food
decreased. Activity did not vary with physiological condition except
that as body weight decreased activity increased--probably because of
lack of food.
The home range is used most intensively near centers of activity that
are near woodland edges or in other areas of good cover. Cottontails
often ranged through the woods and along edges but did not cross open
areas more than 75 feet wide. Cottontails use their home range most
intensively in winter when they are forced to move long distances in
poor cover, searching for food. More than one cottontail may use sites
of good cover at the same time and two or three used the same resting
place at different times.
Two instances of homing were observed; cottontails moved 1,100 and
1,800 feet to return to their home ranges, but one cottontail that
escaped 1700 feet from home failed to return.
The average home range of 18 cottontails for whom adequate data were
gathered was 8.34 acres. The home ranges of males averaged 1.16 acre
larger than those of females. In summer, cottontails increased their
home ranges 5 to 15 per cent by taking advantage of cover provided by
the more abundant vegetation. Cottontails three weeks to five months of
age lived in home ranges of between 0.1 and 4.0 acres and enlarged
their home ranges almost to their ultimate full size in the first
winter.
LITERATURE CITED
ALLEN, D. L.
1939. Michigan cottontails in winter. Jour. Wildl. Mgt.,
3(4):307-322, 6 half-tone pls., 7 tables.
CONNELL, J. H.
1954. Home range and mobility of brush rabbits in California
Chaparral. Jour. Mamm., 35(3):392-405, 6 figs., 2 tables.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account