By Raquel McBride

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Desert Cottontails

• By Raquel McBride

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What do Desert Cottontails look like?

• Mammals
• grayish brown with orange on the back of their
  head
• tails are like cotton balls
• adults are 15 to 18 inches tall and two to three
  pounds
• Females are larger than males
• Their ears can be three to four inches tall

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Where do Desert Cottontails live?

• grasslands and deserts
• Shrublands
• under bushes and cactus
• on edges of meadows

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Mating and Babies

• one jumps up and the other runs underneath
• 7 litters a year
• minimum litter is two babies
• maximum litter is six babies
• average litter is three babies

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Help! Its a Kit fox!

• Kit Foxes eat Desert Cottontails
• So do coyotes, golden and bald eagles, great
  horned owls, ferruginous hawks, badgers, bobcats,
  and humans
• protect themselves by raising their tail when
  danger is near
• This reveals a white poof
• The white poof is a signal of danger for other
  cottontails
• They stay like this while they go into hiding
• When they are safe in hiding, they lower their
  tail and wait until it is safe