ADW: cottontailtracks-gsa.jpg

Identification

Sylvilagus floridanus (eastern cottontail)

Permissions for Use

This resource may not be downloaded and used without permission of the copyright holder except for educational fair use.

Caption

The toes of cottontails are hard to distinguish. You might see claw marks in the footprint, but counting the toes would be nearly impossible. Their front feet are about 1 inch wide and just a little bit longer (1 inch). Their back feet are about 1 inch wide, and significantly longer (3 inches). Usually you will find that the back feet will be in front of the front feet in their tracks. This is because rabbits cross their back feet in front of the front feet when they hop. The back footprints will almost always be spread wider apart than the front feet.

Contributors

ArtToday web site (copyright holder; media; identification)

To cite this page: Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2012. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at http://animaldiversity.org.

Disclaimer: The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts. While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control.

Sponsored in part by the Interagency Education Research Initiative,
the Homeland Foundation and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants DUE-0633095 and DRL-0628151.
The ADW Team gratefully acknowledges their support. Report Error — Comment
©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors.
All rights reserved.