The Appalachian cottontail. Courtesy: wikipedia
You’ll have to climb high to find this aptly named rabbit.
For centuries, wildlife experts mistook the elusive Appalachian cottontail for its close cousin, the New England species, assuming the rabbits found in Maine were exactly the same as the ones in North Carolina. Finally, says Andrea Shipley, a mammalogist at the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, “Genetic research actually showed there was a distinction in the genetics between the cottontails that existed in the mountains of the South vs. the ones that were occupying the mountains of the North.” In 1992, the Appalachian cottontail earned its own species designation.
The Appalachian Cottontail Project, a two-year study that wrapped up in in 2020, pinpointed three isolated populations at undisclosed locations in western North Carolina. Even so, not much is known about how many of the rabbits actually live in the state. What researchers did confirm is that they appear to only exist at 3,000 feet and above and that they prefer mountain bald and spruce-fir ecosystems with lots of shrub cover.
What makes the Appalachian cottontail so difficult to study, says Shipley, is that “they are a cryptic species that blend in very, very well with their habitat. You’re not likely to see them in the ways that we see Eastern cottontails, out on a lawn munching on grass. It’s pretty difficult to even see one out in the wild unless you’re going to some of these really high elevation sites and you happen to see one on a bald. They blend in phenomenally well into the habitats that they are occupying.”
Compounding the identification obstacles is the fact that the Appalachian species and the more common Eastern cottontail look a lot alike, too.
“I would not rely on my eyes to make identification, but of course it really depends on where you are,” Shipley says. “If I was at 5,000 feet and saw a rabbit and it was sitting out there in a bald or in a spruce-fir, I would be more likely to say that’s probably an Appalachian cottontail because that’s their habitat preference. We don’t believe that Eastern cottontails have made it up that far in elevation yet.”
The International Union Conservation Network (IUCN), a national group of research scientists, has deemed the Appalachian cottontail “near-threatened” because of its restricted range and decreasing numbers, although this is not yet an official state or federal status. So far, experts haven’t figured out what makes the animals so picky about their high habitat.
The next phase of the Appalachian Cottontail Project will focus on best ways to manage the critters, not just on public mountains, but on privately-owned lands. Says Shipley, “That will help guide us if we need to recommend a change in their state status.”
Wild Things
Appalachian cottontails:
• Are slightly smaller than the Eastern species.
• Have shorter ears, more black hairs on the backs of their ears and a black patch on the top of the head.
• Feed on grasses in summer but rely on shrubby and herbaceous plants in winter. They’ll also eat their own feces to cull vitamins and minerals from poorly-digested plant matter.
• Have been found in parts of North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia in the Blue Ridge.
• Generally live about one year and give birth to two litters.
Source: Andrea Shipley, mammalogist, NC Wildlife Resources Commission
The story above first appeared in our January / February 2022 issue.
