The eastern cottontail appears in 858 Arkansas records, thickest in Washington and Benton counties in the northwest and through Pulaski County in the center, with the rest spread from the Ozark highlands to the Delta. It is the state’s everyday rabbit, as likely in a backyard garden or roadside edge as in wild country.
An edge specialist, not a forest rabbit
Cottontails need a mosaic: open grass and forb ground to graze, with brush piles, fencerows, and brambles close by for cover. Unlike burrowing rabbits, the cottontail hides in plain sight and dashes for the nearest thicket when flushed. The clearings and forest openings around Ozark National Forest and Buffalo National River fit it well, as do the meadows of Lake Charles State Park and the brushy edges of Hot Springs National Park.
A spring and summer of litters
Females raise several litters a year, three or more between early spring and fall, each born in a shallow grass-lined form scratched into open ground. Arkansas records climb from April through June, when days lengthen and inexperienced young rabbits are abroad at dusk, then taper into a quiet winter. Cottontails stay active all year, living off bark, buds, and dried grasses when green growth is gone.
Status in Arkansas
NatureServe ranks the eastern cottontail S5, Secure, and the species is native to Arkansas. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous in the state.
Full species profile
