THE UBIQUITOUS BUNNY
(Page 5 of 7)
It's no wonder that mortality is so high among cottontail
kits, since they enter life pitifully ill equipped for the
many challenges and hardships of the wilds. Newborns weigh
only one to two ounces each and are blind, near-naked, and
totally helpless. But small mammals mature quickly, and
after just a week or so of guzzling their mother's
nutritious milk, baby cottontails are furred, have opened
their eyes, and are squirming about in the nest. Another
week and the kits have tripled their birth weight and are
ready to venture out on short treks. Within a month of
birth, young cottontails are weaned and entirely on their
own.
RELATED CONTENT
Each spring and summer, innumerable "abandoned" cottontail
kits are discovered by well-meaning folk and taken home to
be saved-where they almost always die within a few days. If
you should happen upon a seemingly deserted nest of
quivering bunny young, be certain-before "rescuing" the
little waifs-that they are, in fact, orphaned. Unless you
can locate a dead mother rabbit, assume that she's hiding
somewhere nearby and will return as soon as you leave-and
don't touch the young. If, however, you are
absolutely positive that the kits are orphaned, and wish to
take them home, you'll have to go out of your way to assure
their survival. To begin with, the brood must be provided
with a clean, dry nest box housed indoors or at least
protected from wind, rain, and deep cold. Nurse cottontail
kits on low-fat milk enriched with egg yolks and bunny
vitamins (available from feed stores, vets, and mail-order
houses).
Adult cottontails can and do eat nearly every type of
vegetation their home turf offers-including (depending on
season and locale) grasses, forbs, bark, leaves, nuts,
berries, seeds, and cultivated crops (even, in rare but
documented instances, insects). In a phenomenon known
variously as refection and coprophagy
(use your dictionary, or ask a rabbit rancher to explain),
most everything swallowed by a lagomorph is (to word it as
politely as possible) run through the animal's digestive
system twice to assure maximal absorption of nutrients.
This recycling-for-efciency is especially important in
winter, since cottontails neither hibernate nor store food
for the hard months, and therefore must make the most of
any nourishment that comes their way.
It's no accident of nature, then, that the annual
early-summer peak in rabbit population corresponds exactly
with the appearance of yummy young green goodies
everywhere—including our gardens. Consequently, in
rabbit-rich areas, Peter and his extended family can
sometimes become first-class pests.
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