The Eastern Cottontail is a medium-sized rabbit that is brown or grey-brown above and white below--it has a distinctive rusty-coloured nape on the back of its head, and a rusty patch on its tail (Nagorsen 2005). It is a solitary rabbit species that does not hibernate in winter (Wikipedia 2012). Winter diet includes buds, twigs and bark, summer diet includes grasses and other herbaceous species.
Distribution
The Eastern Cottontail is an introduced rabbit species in British Columbia that is native to the eastern and south-central US, southern Canada, eastern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America (Wikipedia 2012). It first appeared in British Columbia in the Fraser Valley around 1953 and on Vancouver Island around 1964.
Taxonomy:
The two populations in BC represent different subspecies (Nagorsen 2005):
1) Sylvilagus floridanus alacer (lower Fraser Valley, originally from the Kansas and Missouri regions)
2) Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsii (Vancouver Island, originally from Ontario).
Historical Notes:
Clifford and Guiget (1958) provide the following information on the arrival of the Eastern Cottontail in BC: "Introduced to several counties in Washington between the years 1926 and 1933, this species has crossed the International Boundary and has become established in the vicinity of Huntingdon, BC. First records were secured by Mr. A. Racey (1953) in January, 1952, but animals had been seen in the area since 1950."
