February 19, 1999

     Cottontail Rabbit

If we have had a fresh coating of snow overnight, I know that even if I get outdoors before the sun is up, there will be many cottontail tracks in our yards.  The neighborhood conttontails seem to be the first animals out and about.  Actually, they are active from early evening through the night and into the morning, so it's not surprising to see our neighborhood well-tracked at sunrise.

The tracks of a rabbit are unlike those of any other animal.  Rabbits never walk, but their gait is a series of hops or leaps about 1 to 10 feet at a time.  Their smaller front feet hit the ground first, and as the cottontail bounds, the larger hind feet track ahead of the front feet.

The rabbit's speed is similar to a dog's or a fox's for about one-quarter mile.  Rabbits usually escape by dodging abruptly and doubling back to home base, where they are familiar with every cluster of shrubs, brush pile or patch of tall grass that offers protection.  Each cottontail has its own home territory, usually fewer than 5 acres in area, which it seldom leaves.