Swamp Rabbit

The swamp rabbit is a species in the cottontail genus and is the largest among all cottontails. Some locals call it the cane-cutter because they can cut thick canebrake stalks with their teeth. This animal is vital to the ecosystem since plant communities get influenced by its herbivorous nature.

The genus name, “Sylvilagus“, is derived from a mixture of the Latin word silva, meaning ‘forest’, and the Greek word lagos, which means ‘hare’.

Swamp rabbits have shorter and less pointy ears than other cottontails, like Appalachian and eastern cottontails, and have more black mottling on their backs. While somewhat similar in appearance, swamp, and marsh rabbits spend their time differently. For example, the swamp rabbit spends less time in the water than the marsh rabbit and stays more in forests.

Description

Length: 1.48-1.80 ft (45-55 cm)

Weight: Males: 4-5.6 lbs (1.8-2.5 kg), Females: 3.6-5.9 lbs (1.6-2.7 kg)

Tail: 1.6-3.0 inches (4-7.6 cm)

Ears: 2.5-3.8 inches (6.3-9.6 cm)

Body and Coloration: Males tend to be larger than females.

Their body coloration combines black, dark brown, and rusty brown, with whitish to buff-gray undersides and a black mottling cover. The hind part of their body has a yellowish cast, and the upper parts of both hind feet are reddish-brown. They have white throats and tails. Also, their eyes have cinnamon-colored circles around them. Their round ears are relatively short.

Range and Distribution

These cottontails occur in abundance throughout the south-central United States and the Gulf Coast, with distribution ranging from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

Habitat

They prefer riparian habitats and inhabit places near lowland water like, cypress swamps, floodplains, marshlands, river tributaries, and along rivers and creeks. Swamp rabbits shelter in depressions they dig up themselves, covered with leaves and grasses, or in thickets or stumps of fallen trees.

Diet

These creatures prefer dewberry, false nettle, greenbrier, and savannah panicgrass. Apart from these plants, their diet also consists of grasses, sedges, seedlings, shrubs, tree bark, and twigs. During winter, they also feed on the bark of trees like blackberry, deciduous holly, hazelnut, and spicebush. They also practice coprophagy like other rabbits.

Behavior

• Cane-cutters are both crepuscular and nocturnal, foraging mostly during dusks and nights. Also, they are mainly terrestrial and solitary.
• Throughout the day, these rabbits prefer to stay hidden and not move. However, if predators come near, they will flee.
• When threatened, they can be vocal, but it is not their usual means of communication, which is scent marking and body gestures.
• Sometimes to avoid threats, these rabbits would lie in the water covered by thickets and leaf litter without moving a muscle, with only their nose above the water. They also use rapid and irregular or zigzag jumping patterns to escape predators.
• Aggressive, even violent, encounters often occur between males. Sometimes one of two combatants might get killed during these fights. They fight using sharp claws and teeth while standing on their hind legs or even jumping from the ground to strike.
• A linear dominance hierarchy is seen among the male population of swamp rabbits. Once established, it decreases the number of fights among the males. Females show mutual tolerance towards one another.
• These cottontails are territorial, with territory ranging from 2.1 to 18.9 acres. Males use scent marking to establish their territories.

Lifespan

Researchers have done very few studies on their lifespan. The estimated longevity of this species, on average, is 1.8 years but may extend up to 10 years.

Adaptations

• The body coloration of these creatures gives them excellent camouflage that blends in perfectly with their surroundings. With the help of this feature, they can “freeze up” and attempt to go unnoticed.
• Swamp rabbits have dense fur, making their skin waterproof, which makes it easier to swim.

Mating and Reproduction

Swamp rabbits are polygynandrous and synchronous breeders. Their breeding season mainly occurs in February, lasting through August, but varies across their range. For example, in Texas, they breed year-round.

Males show aggressive behavior towards each other while pursuing the same female. Before breeding, females chase and threaten males as they run away. Then a jumping sequence follows, after which the copulation begins, and again the females chase the males.

Estrus lasts in females for about an hour, and if they do not breed within this period, embryos get reabsorbed. Induced ovulation is prevalent in these rabbits. External stimuli like habitat loss or flooding may lead to the loss of in-utero litter.

After a gestation period of 35-40 days, females give birth in depressions covered with leaves and fur. Fake nests are built by females, recognizable by the lack of fur covering them. Males are not involved in rearing the newborns. A litter contains 4-6 young, and females may have 1-3 litters yearly. The newborns are altricial, 0.19 inches (5 mm) long, and weigh approximately 2.16 oz (61.4 g) at birth. They have fully developed fur with color ranging between dark brown and black on the upper bodies and throats with white chins, tails, and undersides.

Their eyes remain closed for 4-7 days after birth, and they are immobile. After two weeks, they leave their nests, but their mothers still nurse them. However, the mothers do not show any further parental care once they are weaned. The swamp rabbits become sexually mature at 23 weeks old. Despite being capable of breeding at this age, most prefer not to.

Predators

They play a vital role in the food web of their ecosystem, as they are preyed upon by American alligators, barred owls, bobcats, broad-winged hawks, coyotes, crows, foxes, great-horned owls, raccoons, red-shouldered hawks, red-tailed hawks, skunks, and snakes. Even domesticated animals like dogs and feral house cats are known to attack them. They jump in the water and flee to escape threats such as this.

Their exposure to predators increases in winter, as the snow makes it difficult for them to hide. In the northern part of their distribution, the mortality of these rabbits is twice due to snow cover.

Conservation Status

In the Red List of Threatened Species by the IUCN, swamp rabbits are listed as “Least Concern” or “LC”. Although, due to degradation and loss of their swamp habitat, the range of this species is decreasing rapidly in states like Missouri and Oklahoma. 

Also, humans hunt this species mostly for its meat and fur. But they are also hunted for sport, making them one of the United States’ most commonly hunted rabbits.

Interesting Facts

• The “Jimmy Carter Rabbit Incident”, otherwise stated as the “Killer Rabbit Attack”, involved President Jimmy Carter encountering a swamp rabbit. On April 20, 1979, in his hometown, Plains, Georgia, the president was fishing in a flat-bottomed boat alone when a swamp rabbit jumped in the water and proceeded to swim towards his boat. To ward it off, he splashed water on it with the paddle. The president mentioned that hounds were probably chasing it.