Home Range
The eastern cottontail home range is roughly circular in uniform habitats. Eastern cottontails typically inhabit one home range throughout their lifetime, but home range shifts in response to vegetation changes and weather are common. In New England eastern cottontail home ranges average 1.4 acres (0.57 ha) for adult males and 1.2 acres (0.48 ha) for adult females but vary in size from 0.5 acre to 40 acres (0.2–16.2 ha), depending on season, habitat quality, and individual. The largest ranges are occupied by adult males during the breeding season. In southwestern Wisconsin adult male home ranges averaged 6.9 acres (2.8 ha) in spring, increased to 10 acres (4.0 ha) in early summer, and decreased to 3.7 acres (1.5 ha) by late summer. Daily activity is usually restricted to 10% to 20% of the overall home range.
In southeastern Wisconsin home ranges of males overlapped by up to 50%, but female home ranges did not overlap by more than 25% and actual defense of range by females occurred only in the immediate area of the nest. Males fight each other to establish dominance hierarchy and mating priority.
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