Only two other mammals in Nebraska’s atlas carry more records than the eastern cottontail. Its 1089 records cover 67 counties, from the Missouri River bluffs of Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster counties west to Dawes, Cherry, and Scotts Bluff in the Panhandle, as statewide a map as any Nebraska mammal owns.
An edge specialist
A cottontail needs two things side by side, open ground to graze and dense cover to dive into, and Nebraska’s farm country supplies both in strips. Weedy fencerows, brushy draws, shelterbelts, and garden edges all hold rabbits, from Eugene T. Mahoney State Park and Fort Kearny State Recreation Area in the east to the pine plantations of Nebraska National Forest and the bluffs of Scotts Bluff National Monument in the west. Unlike its burrow-using western cousin, the eastern cottontail rests and raises its young in shallow surface nests hidden in grass.
A long breeding season
Cottontails do not hibernate, and they make up for hard winters with a long breeding run. Females raise several litters from early spring into late summer, and Nebraska’s counts surge from April through July as vegetation greens and young rabbits begin feeding in the open. Even midwinter records stay steady, posted by rabbits browsing bark and buds along the same fencerows.
Status in Nebraska
NatureServe ranks the eastern cottontail S5, Secure, in Nebraska, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
