With 2,539 records, the eastern cottontail ranks among the most recorded mammals in Tennessee, its sightings reaching from Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest west through Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.
An edge animal, not a forest animal
Cottontails do not live in deep woods. They work the seams where cover meets open ground, briar thickets, field margins, roadsides, and young growth, feeding on grasses and clover within a quick dash of hiding cover. That preference shows in the county pattern. Knox, Davidson, and Hamilton counties lead the record, the state’s most settled country, where mowed grass and untrimmed edges make endless cottontail habitat.
Spring is breeding season, all season long
A female cottontail raises several litters a year, nesting in a shallow ground form lined with her own fur and producing young from late winter into early fall. Tennessee’s sightings climb in March and run highest from April through July, the same months nesting is in full swing and half-grown rabbits begin appearing on their own. The rabbit itself never hibernates and keeps feeding in every month, even through snow.
Status in Tennessee
NatureServe ranks the eastern cottontail S5, Secure, in Tennessee. It is native to its Tennessee range, and USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous in the state.
Full species profile
