Mountain Cottontail: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Rabbits and Hares · day 3 of 7

Five facts

1. A rabbit up a tree? The mountain cottontail is known to climb juniper trees for a meal.
2. Eating takes up about half the time it is awake. Most of its meals happen at dusk and dawn, in clearings close to cover.
3. If something startles it, it dashes a couple of metres into cover, then stops dead, ears standing straight up.
4. It does not seem to dig its own burrow. It rests in shallow dips in the ground, or borrows burrows made by other animals.
5. Its menu is mostly sagebrush and grasses, but it also nibbles fungi, truffles included.

The quiz

1. What kind of tree does the mountain cottontail climb to feed?

• Oak
• Palm
• Juniper (correct)
• Birch

It is known to climb juniper trees for food.

2. When does the mountain cottontail do most of its feeding?

• At dusk and dawn (correct)
• Only at midday
• Only in the middle of the night
• Only during snowstorms

Most of its meals happen at dusk and dawn, near cover.

3. What does a startled mountain cottontail do once it reaches cover?

• It screams loudly
• It starts digging
• It jumps into a river
• It freezes with its ears up (correct)

It runs a short way to cover, then holds still with ears erect.

4. Where does the mountain cottontail rest when plants are sparse?

• In a nest of mud it builds
• In burrows dug by other animals (correct)
• In a deep tunnel it digs itself
• High on a cliff ledge

It borrows other animals' burrows and does not seem to dig its own.

5. Which of these does the mountain cottontail also eat?

• Fish
• Bird eggs
• Insects
• Truffles (correct)

Besides sagebrush and grasses, it eats fungi such as truffles.

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