AboutJonathan Wright Expertise I can answer questions about wild mammals, as well as other wild animals. I can also answer questions on extinct animals and zoos.
I do not have expertise in animal medicine and care and cannot give advice on veterinary problems. Please contact a wildlife veterinarian or a wildlife charity or organisation if you find an injured wild animal. Please do not take wild animals out of the wild. This can be illegal and also very cruel, especially if you do not know how to look after the animal.
I do not agree with fights between different animals. Please do not ask me questions about them.
Experience I have a zoology degree and have been interested in animals since I was two years old. I am a zoo volunteer at London Zoo. I have appeared on a BBC Radio Quiz, 'Wildbrain'.
Organizations World Wide Fund for Nature. Zoological Society of London. London Bat Group.
Publications Newsletters of London Zoo volunteers and the London Bat Group
Education/Credentials BSC degree in Zoology. 'A' levels in Zoology and Chemistry. 'O' Level in Biology.
Expert: Jonathan Wright Date: 7/28/2005 Subject: wild rabbits
Question Jonathan,
Thanks for the reply, but it didn't quite explain the large circles. To clarify there will be anywhere from six to ten rabbits in these circles (Avg.). The largest I've seen included fifteen, all evenly spaced in a circle just staring at one another. They are so intense, that I can literally drive right up to them, get out of the car and stand near them. As they won't move, I have to step up to them and shoo them out of the road.
Could it be a type of posturing of one warren vs. another? It does seem to occur at sights on campus that appear to be border areas, like the group from the large grass area by the dorms and the group from the large grass area by the student center, which are separated by the paved service road.
Is there agression or dominant posturing between warrens?
You'll have to come observe them scientifically sometime.
Kevin
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Followup To
Question -
I'm a graveyard shift Deputy Sheriff at this university. We have a large number of wild cottontails as well as Jack "Rabbits". I have noticed that the cottontails often form large circles where they seem to stare at each other and one occassionally jumps straight up in the air. Why do they form these circles? What does the up and down hop mean in this context?
Just curious. I most often can drive right up to them, talk to them, and have to get out of the patrol car to shoo them off the road.
Kevin
Answer -
Dear Kevin
Thanks for your interesting question. You probably saw a courtship display, with various males vying for the sexual attentions of fertile females. I have used a few websites to give some insight into your observation. The first involves two jumping rabbits, but the second shows a group of rabbits and seems more similar to your observation.
http://www.netwalk.com/~vireo/JumpingJacks.html discusses two adults. They were about eight feet apart, sitting on their haunches facing each other on a little plot of grass near a road. Without warning, one rabbit rushed the other, taking off from a dead start. The other rabbit stood pat until the last second, then popped two or three feet straight up in the air. The first rabbit sped directly under the rabbit that was in the air. It then stopped four or five feet beyond. The jumping rabbit came plopping down in the same spot it had occupied. They were soon squared off and facing each other again. After 20 seconds, the identical actions were repeated and continued five or six more times at the same intervals before the participants noted the observer and scampered away.
Jack L. Gottschang wrote the following in his book "A Guide to the Mammals of Ohio. "A male and a female cottontail face each other on the ground; the male approaches the female and leaps straight up into the air, turning completely around (180 degrees) as he does so. While the male is "airborne," the female runs beneath him and immediately turns around so that when the male lands on the ground, the rabbits are again facing each other. These acrobatics are repeated over and over again, with the sexes alternating their roles; one time the male jumps into the air, the next time the female." Gottschang said that when both parties have been sufficiently stimulated, mating occurs.
http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek030408.html and other sites state that male Eastern cottontails remain sexually active through the summer. Males fight one another and perform dance-like courtship displays before the territorial females. These displays involve face-offs and much jumping, including females jumping over males. Individuals often jump straight up into the air, and pairs or small groups often engage in active chases.
When a male spots a fertile female, he chases until she finally turns, faces him, and punches out with her forepaws. Then the prospective mates crouch until one suddenly leaps a few feet into the air, followed by a similar jump by the other. The rabbits may repeat these leaps several times, perhaps to indicate how healthy each rabbit is. After they finish leaping, they mate.
Hopefully, this has answered your question. I must admit, I haven't heard of this behaviour before and my initial idea was that the rabbits were leaping to get a better view of their surroundings in order to spot potential predators. I now believe that the rabbits were indulging in breeding behaviour.
All the best
Jonathan
Answer Dear Kevin
Thanks for your further observations. Some of the most important animal studies have been based on observations like yours. Until I got your question, I hadn't heard of this unusual behaviour by cottontails. You could be correct in suggesting that it is due to dominance hierarchy, with the dominant animal being the one which jumps highest - a bit like a high jump at an athletic event.
http://www.bobpickett.org/order_lagomorpha.htm states that in areas with high densities of rabbits, females form dominance hierarchies, with the dominant females suppressing the reproduction of subdominants by denying them access to nest sites and by physical intimidation. Dominance hierarchy of males allows the strongest males to fertilize more females than subordinates and also minimizes fighting. Most aggressive behavior is exhibited between the dominant male and the individual immediately below it in social status.
http://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/mammals/cottontail.htm The eastern cottontail is solitary except when mating or raising young. Adults may form social hierarchies, an outcome of aggressive encounters involving chasing and submission, rarely fighting. Ritualized motor patterns and posturing are common among interactions of adults, for example, in male-female encounters during courtship. Prior to mating, pairs engage in chasing with frequent reversals, leaping, and dashing - the male rushing at the female and urinating on or toward her.
The jumping behaviour you've seen could be a way to determine the strongest animals (those which can jump highest), without resorting to violence. Similar behaviours are shown by various animals. They only resort to violent action if two competitors are very close in physical strength. Usually, the weaker animal backs away before the stronger animal endangers it.
This may be linked to one of my first ideas on this subject. Most of the rabbits are still, with one animal jumping to determine if there is any danger. If the animal is alarmed, the rabbits could then rush back to their burrows.
Your observations do not seem to correspond to my studies and it is possible that there is a high density of cottontails, with two warrens close to a desirable resource, such as food or habitat. This would lead to posturing between the strongest members of each colony. Presumably, the weaker colony would be forced out. I have not found any information to support this idea, although similar behaviours occur in rival groups of other animals.
It is always good to hear about new ideas and I hope that you spend more time observing the cottontails. Sometimes, it can be strange that so little is known about some of the commoner animals. Perhaps people are so keen to study rare and exotic species that they ignore the animals in their neighbourhood.
Basically, it seems that the rabbits are posturing either to look for danger, to establish a dominance hierarchy, perhaps as a prelude to mating, or to establish which of two colonies should have access to a desirable resource. At present, I cannot give a definitive answer. Hopefully, you or one of your colleagues may be able to take this one stepp further and determine why the rabbits are behaving in such an unusual way.
Thanks for the invitation. I would like to come back to the USA some time. In 1991, I spent a few days in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego and Honolulu. This was on a round-the-world trip, which also included Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. I spent much of my time going round zoos, but saw some wildlife, but not as much as I would have liked to see. Many of my questions come from the USA and it seems that there is a lot of interesting work being done there, with many people interested in wildlife.
