Tennessee has 28 records of the Appalachian cottontail since 2000, and every one of them is an iNaturalist photo rather than a trapped specimen.
A rabbit that needs more than a glance
This cottontail looks almost identical to the far more widespread eastern cottontail from a distance. Telling them apart takes a close look at the black-edged ears and a dark patch on the forehead, features a quick trail photo doesn’t always capture. That makes misidentification a real risk in a state where both species overlap, and it helps explain why this rabbit’s record count stays low even where it’s genuinely present.
Thick cover on the high ridges
It depends on dense shrub cover, blackberry, greenbrier, and mountain laurel thickets reclaiming openings near forest, and gnaws bark and twigs from trees like red maple when green food runs short. In Tennessee that cover is concentrated in the high country of the Unakas and Smokies and around Cherokee National Forest and Roan Mountain, the core of the species’ range across the southern Appalachians rather than a statewide spread.
Status in Tennessee
NatureServe ranks the Appalachian cottontail S3, Vulnerable, and lists it as native to Tennessee. USGS NAS doesn’t list it as nonindigenous in the state.
Full species profile
