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3230482 
Journal Article 
Breeding of the cottontail rabbit in southern Michigan 
Allen, DL 
1938 
Yes 
American Midland Naturalist
ISSN: 0003-0031
EISSN: 1938-4238 
20 
2 
464-469 
English 
In eleven litters of cottontail rabbits from Kalamazoo County, Michigan, the average number of young was 5.1. The regular breeding season lasts from February through July, although some breeding evidently occurs earlier and later than this. Records from one nest showed that the eyes of the young rabbits opened on about the eleventh day and they left the nest on about the sixteenth day. If the gestation period of the cottontail is roughly one month and the young are cared by the mother for 16 (or a few more) days, 50 days would encompass the length of time needed for producing a litter. A six-month breeding period, then, would easily allow time for a female to bear and rear to self-sufficiency three sets of young. However, on a basis of 12 autopsies during February and March, it appears that most females breed during the latter month. In one case breeding was probably deferred until April. If these dates are representative, it appears probable that in this region females ordinarily produce two litters per season. Young rabbits of two litters scattered after leaving the nest and there was no evidence of further association as a family. The sex ratio in a series of 383 rabbits taken chiefly by box trapping and shooting was 0.49 females.