This week for Flora and Fauna Friday, we have a pair of fluffy butted, big eared, garden guests: the Cottontail Rabbits (genus Sylvilagus).
Rabbits as a whole belong to the order Lagomorpha. Lagomorphs share some superficial similarities to Rodents, as the two orders are closely related, but they’re distinct clades. One of the simpler ways to tell the two orders apart is that rodents have two incisors and rabbits have four. Here on Edisto Island we have two species of rabbit, both of which are members of the Cottontail genus. Both of our rabbits are roughly the size of a football and about the same color. They both inhabit early successional habitat, prefer to feed on fresh vegetation on the edge of open areas, and are most active at night. Rabbits are herbivorous, feeding mainly on forbs. Like White-tailed Deer, they are a prey species and, similarly to deer, rabbits have a physiology built for detection and fleeing. Rabbits have big side-facing eyes and movable cupped ears for sensing predators. These are coupled with long, muscled rear legs that allow them to accelerate rapidly to high speed in order to escape predators. This is why rabbits never tend to stray far from thickets or other dense cover.
The Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) is your common rabbit found in a wide range of habitat throughout the eastern half of the United States. They’re most often found in fields, yards, roadsides, and other open habitats. They have a brindled coat of white, tan, and black fur, large beady black eyes, tall elliptical ears, and a conspicuous cottony tail. In general, they have a round shape to their head and a somewhat boney appearance. The Marsh Rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris) is found throughout the coastal plain of the southeast and is partial to marshy wetland habitats. They are quite common on the Sea Islands in maritime forests surrounding tidal marsh. Marsh rabbits have fur that is brindled primarily in browns and black, small eyes, short circular ears, and they like to keep their tail tucked away. Marsh Rabbits usually have a triangular-shaped head and a plump, guinea-pig-like appearance.
