Brush Rabbit

Brush Rabbit Tracks

Natural History of Brush Rabbits

Brush rabbits are cottontails, rabbits with white cottony tails. They are found in brushy areas. They are active dusk and dawn, but are primarily nocturnal. Sometimes, the young are active in the daytime.

Brush rabbits do not dig burrows like European rabbits do. When escaping from predators, they will retreat into dense brush. They hide by day in brush piles and grassy depressions, resting in forms of their own construction.

Brush rabbits are small, weighing only two to four pounds. Like all rabbits, they are prolific. They can have five litters of up to seven young per year. The young are born with their eyes closed and lack fur. The mother hides them in a nest, which she covers with a blanket of grass before she leaves to feed. The babies are mature in four or five months.

They eat woody vegetation in the winter, including bark, twigs, buds, Douglas fir, and salal. During the summer, the diet is more varied. They eat grasses, berries, plantain, clover, and other plants. Scat is a round pellet, Ľ to 1/3 inch in diameter.

Common predators include foxes, coyotes, gopher snakes, and bobcats.

Tracks are often indistinct due to the hair on the bottom of the feet. Tracks are in groups of four prints, with the cluster usually measuring six to nine inches long.

Personal Notes on Brush Rabbits

These tiny cottontails are common, but not usually seen. I’ve seen them active at odd times, such as during a rainstorm. Their tracks don’t seem to stray too far from cover – probably how they got the name brush rabbit.

Find rabbit and rabbit tracks posters, greeting cards, t-shirts, hats, and more in my new store.

Now available: "Animals Don't Cover Their Tracks - An Introduction to Animal Tracking" on CD! (Version 3.0) New drawings, more species, more photos, more extensive sections on tracking humans, more detailed directions for plaster casting, mystery tracks section, tracking stories section, and more. The CD features over 100 species, including special bonus sections with the tracks of some African and Australian animals. A large section on tracking lost people for search and rescue is included, with over four pages of photos showing the details of tracks and signs people leave. Easy to use format. This web site is limited by bandwidth, but the CD-ROM is not. The CD is available in my online store at: www.dirt-time.com Works with Mac or PC. Happy tracking!!

What else can you find in the nature store? Beartracker's animal tracks coloring book, T-shirts, sweatshirts, journals, book bags, toddler and infant apparel, mouse pads, posters, postcards, coffee mugs, travel mugs, clocks, Frisbees, bumper stickers, hats, stickers, and many more items. All with tracks or paw prints, or nature scenes. Custom products are available. If you don't see the track you want on the product you want, email me and I can probably create it. Proceeds from all sales go to pay the monthly fees for this web site. You can help support this site as well as get great tracking products! Thank you!

Find other tracking products: www.zazzle.com/tracker8459*

Also visit these fine stores for more products of interest:

NDN Pride shop - For Indian Pride items for all tribes. Custom items available on request.

ASL Signs of Love - For anyone who uses or is learning ASL, American Sign Language. Custom name items and more are available here.

Sales from all stores give commissions to Beartracker's Animal Tracks Den, which helps keep this site online as a free service. We are celebrating ten years online this year!

Got a rabbit story? E-mail me and tell me about it.

tracker@humboldt.net

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