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Identification

eastern cottontail
Sylvilagus floridanus

Sylvilagus floridanus: information (1) Sylvilagus floridanus: pictures (21) Sylvilagus floridanus: specimens (10)

Caption

The toes of cottontails are hard to distinguish. You might see claw marks in the footprint, but counting the toes would be nearly impossible. Their front feet are about 1 inch wide and just a little bit longer (1 inch). Their back feet are about 1 inch wide, and significantly longer (3 inches). Usually you will find that the back feet will be in front of the front feet in their tracks. This is because rabbits cross their back feet in front of the front feet when they hop. The back footprints will almost always be spread wider apart than the front feet.

Type
Photo

Subject
Sign

Type
Photo

Subject
Tracks

Contributors

ArtToday web site (copyright holder; media; identification)

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University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

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BioKIDS is sponsored in part by the Interagency Education Research Initiative. It is a partnership of the University of Michigan School of Education, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, and the Detroit Public Schools. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DRL-0628151.
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