Eastern Cottontail - Mortality

Mortality

In Kansas the largest cause of mortality of radiotracked eastern cottontails was predation (43%), followed by research mortalities (19%), and tularemia (18%). A major cause of eastern cottontail mortality is collision with automobiles. In Missouri it was estimated that 10 eastern cottontails are killed annually per mile of road. The peak period of highway mortality is in spring (March through May); roadside vegetation greens up before adjacent fields and is highly attractive to eastern cottontails.

Annual adult survival is estimated at 20%. Average longevity is 15 months in the wild; the longest lived wild individual on record was 5 years old. Captive eastern cottontails have lived to at least 9 years of age.

Eastern cottontails are hosts to fleas, ticks, lice, cestodes, nematodes, trematodes, gray flesh fly larvae, botfly larvae, tularemia, shopes fibroma, torticollis, and streptothricosis cutaneous. Further summary of diseases and pests is available.