Desert Cottontail Rabbits

Description:

The adult desert cottontail is light colored, tan to gray, with a yellowish tinge. The underside of the body is whitish. It often has an orange-brown throat patch. The tail is rounded and looks like a cottonball, but is darker above, white below. The length of a desert cottontail is thirteen to seventeen inches; ears average three to four inches long; and the average weight is two to three pounds. Females are larger than the males. Hind feet are large and average three inches long. When the rabbit takes short hops, its tracks look like the number "7," with the two hind feet planted first, then the two front feet set behind. The desert cottontail is born in a nest lined with grass and with fur which the mother pulls from her belly. The nest is located in a depression, abandoned badger or prairie dog burrow, or beneath a shrub.

Habitat:

Desert cottontails occur in a wide variety of habitats, including dry desertlike grasslands and shrublands, riparian areas and pinyon-juniper forests.

Notes:

Colorado’s cottontail species include Nuttall’s cottontail, the desert cottontail, and the eastern cottontail. The species differ slightly in size and appearance, but they’re most easily distinguished by their habitats. Nuttall’s cottontail tends toward higher elevations and forest edges. Desert cottontails prefer the open expanses of semiarid grasslands in the foothills. And Colorado’s eastern cottontails live predominantly in deciduous, riparian woodlands.