Desert Cottontail - Sylvilagus audubonii
City of Rocks State Park
New Mexico, USA
Desert Cottontails are amazing little creatures. For instance, they rarely have to drink water, obtaining enough hydration from the vegetation which they eat - in this, a rather dry part of the world. As far as mammals go, Desert Cottontails are at the bottom of the meat eating food chain, not that they eat meat, it is just that about everything that does will feast on these Cottontails. Their response is to breed like rabbits.
The range of the Desert Cottontail is fairly extensive, extending throughout the US southwest and beyond. These are small creatures, an adult weighs roughly three pounds and range in length from a foot to a foot and a half. They live for about two years, if not eaten or dying from other causes.
Hillsboro, New Mexico
Photograph immediately above and two below
East fork of Ready Pay Gulch, North of NM-152, East of Hillsboro, NM
Photograph immediately above and two below.
