Desert cottontail: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the desert cottontail lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Sylvilagus audubonii
Group	Rabbits, hares & pikas
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	North America
Class	Mammal
Order	Lagomorpha
Family	Leporidae

Where does the desert cottontail live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the desert cottontail in 2 countries and territories across North America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the desert cottontail endangered?

The desert cottontail’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the desert cottontail?

The desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii) is a mammal in the order Lagomorpha and the family Leporidae, genus Sylvilagus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the desert cottontail

The desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), also known as Audubon's cottontail, is a New World cottontail rabbit, and a member of the family Leporidae. Unlike the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), they do not form social burrow systems, but compared with some other leporids, they are extremely tolerant of other individuals in their vicinity.

Cottontails give birth to their kits in burrows vacated by other mammals. They sometimes cool off, or take refuge in scratched out shallow created depressions of their own making, using their front paws like a back hoe. They are not usually active in the middle of the day, but can be observed foraging in the early morning, and early evening. Cottontails are rarely found out of their burrows looking for food on windy days, because the wind interferes with their ability to hear approaching predators, their primary defense mechanism.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Desert cottontail (revision 1318184123), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q608572 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).