Basin wiki · Animals

Desert cottontail

Sylvilagus audubonii · Audubon’s cottontail

The yard rabbit with shorter ears and a white puff tail; the jackrabbit is the long-eared one.

Desert cottontail sitting in sand
Photo by Stolz, Gary M. · Public domain

In the basin

Cottontails stay near cover and scoot into a bush. Jackrabbits are larger, longer-eared, and bound across open pads. A nest of young in a grass cup is usually this species — leave it; the mother returns on a schedule that looks like abandonment. Dogs and traffic are the usual end. Wikipedia and the park mammal list have the rabbit.

Related entries

  • Black-tailed jackrabbit

    Lepus californicus

    mammal

    Morongo Basin +4

  • Coyote

    Canis latrans

    mammal

    Morongo Basin +4