You’ve probably spotted a brown blur darting across your lawn at dusk, but did you know Florida hosts four distinct rabbit species? While that fluffy visitor is most likely an eastern cottontail, the Sunshine State’s diverse habitats—from pine flatwoods to coastal marshes—support rabbits with remarkably different lifestyles.
Understanding which rabbits share your neighborhood helps you appreciate how these adaptable mammals thrive in Florida’s unique ecosystems, whether they’re hopping through suburban yards or swimming through wetland vegetation.
1. Eastern Cottontail
The eastern cottontail, scientifically known as Sylvilagus floridanus, is the rabbit you’re most likely to encounter throughout Florida. This grayish-brown bunny with its signature fluffy white tail resembling a cotton ball has become so familiar that many Floridians don’t realize other rabbit species exist in the state. Adults measure 12 to 20 inches long and weigh between 2 to 4 pounds, with females typically slightly larger than males.
Where Eastern Cottontails Live
You’ll find eastern cottontails throughout Florida except in the Keys, dense coastal marshes, and thick forests. They prefer open grassy areas for feeding combined with dense cover for safety—exactly the mix found in suburban neighborhoods, abandoned fields, and the edges of cultivated areas. These rabbits maintain relatively small home ranges, with females occupying less than one acre while males roam territories up to 15 acres.
Their habitat preferences make them frequent visitors to residential areas. Governor’s Park, Indianhead Acres, and Myers Park in Tallahassee all support healthy cottontail populations. If you have a yard with brushy cover, briar patches, or hedgerows, you’re providing ideal eastern cottontail habitat.
Daily Life and Diet
Eastern cottontails are primarily nocturnal and crepuscular, meaning they’re most active during early morning and evening hours. During the day, they rest in shallow depressions called “forms” beneath dense grass clumps or brush. Their herbivorous diet consists mainly of grasses, clovers, wild strawberries, and unfortunately for gardeners, vegetables. When green vegetation becomes scarce, they’ll switch to eating young woody shoots, bark, and twigs from plants like elms, hawthorns, and ash trees.
Pro Tip: If you find a fur-covered nest in your yard, resist the urge to intervene. Mother cottontails leave their young for extended periods to avoid attracting predators, returning only briefly to nurse. Simply re-cover the nest and let nature take its course—baby rabbits removed from nests have very high mortality rates in rehabilitation.
Breeding and Population
In Florida’s warm climate, eastern cottontails breed nearly year-round, with peak activity from February through September. After a remarkably short 28-day gestation period, females give birth to litters of 1 to 8 young in fur-lined nests built in shallow ground depressions. The young become independent at just 3 to 4 weeks old, and females can breed again immediately after giving birth. This means a single female may produce 5 to 7 litters per year—potentially up to 35 offspring annually.
Despite this impressive reproductive capacity, mortality rates remain high. Predators including owls, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, hawks, snakes, raccoons, and domestic cats and dogs keep populations in check. Most eastern cottontails don’t survive beyond one year in the wild.
2. Marsh Rabbit
The marsh rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris) represents Florida’s most aquatic rabbit species and one that many residents have never seen despite living nearby. This small, dark brown rabbit lacks the conspicuous white tail of its cottontail cousin, instead sporting a small grayish-brown tail that helps distinguish it at a glance.
Physical Characteristics
Marsh rabbits appear slightly smaller and more streamlined than eastern cottontails. Adults from peninsular Florida typically weigh 2.2 to 2.6 pounds with a total length around 17 inches, though mainland specimens can reach 3.5 pounds. They possess shorter ears, legs, and tails compared to cottontails, giving them a more compact appearance. Their coarsely textured fur ranges from blackish-brown to dark reddish on the back, with a dingy brownish-gray belly.
Key Insight: The easiest way to identify a marsh rabbit is by checking the tail. If you don’t see a fluffy white “cotton ball” underside when the rabbit runs, you’re looking at a marsh rabbit, not an eastern cottontail.
Habitat and Behavior
Found throughout Florida in freshwater and brackish marshes, wet prairies, and areas adjacent to water, marsh rabbits are semi-aquatic specialists. Unlike most rabbits that hop, marsh rabbits often walk, making their movement patterns distinctive. They’re excellent swimmers and will readily take to water when threatened, sometimes remaining submerged with only their eyes and nose exposed.
Marsh rabbits create runways through dense vegetation and rest in nests made from grasses and fur. They’re most active at dawn, dusk, and nighttime—the same hours when many of their predators hunt. Great horned owls, northern harriers, alligators, bobcats, foxes, and in the Everglades, invasive Burmese pythons all prey on marsh rabbits.
Reproduction and Conservation
Breeding occurs year-round in Florida, though it peaks from December through June. Females produce 6 to 7 litters annually, with 2 to 4 young per litter. The young remain with their mother for about four weeks before becoming independent. Despite their small size, marsh rabbits possess remarkably long toenails—13% longer than swamp rabbits’—which they use for digging and gripping muddy substrates.
Important Note: The Lower Keys marsh rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri), a subspecies found only in the Florida Keys from Big Pine to Boca Chica, is classified as endangered. Rising sea levels, habitat loss from coastal development, and limited range threaten this unique population.
3. Swamp Rabbit
The swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus) is Florida’s largest rabbit species and represents a somewhat elusive presence in the state. Heavier and more robust than either cottontails or marsh rabbits, swamp rabbits inhabit primarily northern and central Florida’s wetland edges and river corridors.
Distinguishing Features
Swamp rabbits dwarf their marsh rabbit relatives despite sharing similar wetland habitats. They possess longer ears, larger hind feet, and more prominent features overall. Their fur tends toward reddish-brown rather than the darker tones of marsh rabbits. The skull structure differs noticeably as well, with swamp rabbits having a more gradually tapering front compared to the marsh rabbit’s quicker taper.
Habitat Preferences
While marsh rabbits prefer open wetlands and are truly semi-aquatic, swamp rabbits favor areas with denser vegetation and deeper water. In Florida, look for them in river bottoms, marshy forests, and wetland edges, particularly in cypress stands, cane breaks, and palmetto flats. They’re most common in northern Florida’s river corridors but range into central parts of the state where suitable habitat exists.
Swamp rabbits are strong swimmers and will use this ability to escape predators, though they’re less aquatic than marsh rabbits. They typically don’t dig their own burrows but instead use natural cover or burrows created by other animals.
Diet and Activity Patterns
These large rabbits are primarily nocturnal, emerging at night to feed on grasses, leaves, and other vegetation. During particularly harsh periods, they’ve been observed consuming bark to supplement their diet. Their feeding habits and larger body size mean they require more food than cottontails or marsh rabbits.
The reproductive biology of swamp rabbits in Florida follows similar patterns to other species, with year-round breeding capability and multiple litters annually. Females seek out dense vegetation near water for nesting sites, providing protection for vulnerable young.
4. Appalachian Cottontail
The Appalachian cottontail (Sylvilagus obscurus) represents Florida’s rarest and most restricted rabbit species. Found only at higher elevations in mountainous areas, this rabbit barely enters extreme northwestern Florida’s elevated regions where the state meets the Appalachian foothills.
Identification Challenges
Appalachian cottontails look remarkably similar to eastern cottontails, making field identification nearly impossible without close examination. The most reliable distinguishing feature involves examining skull sutures—obviously not practical for living wild rabbits. External characteristics like fur color, ear size, and body shape overlap so extensively with eastern cottontails that even experienced wildlife observers struggle to tell them apart.
Limited Florida Range
In Florida, Appalachian cottontails occupy only the highest elevation areas of the extreme northwest, primarily where the state’s topography transitions toward genuine mountain habitat. This makes them exceptionally rare within Florida’s borders, as the state’s generally flat terrain doesn’t provide the mountain habitat this species prefers.
Unlike eastern cottontails that thrive in open areas, Appalachian cottontails favor mountainous terrain with rocky outcrops and dense cover. They’re adapted to cooler temperatures and higher elevations than Florida typically offers.
Conservation Considerations
While not as critically endangered as the Lower Keys marsh rabbit, Appalachian cottontails face habitat pressures throughout their range. In Florida, their limited distribution to extreme northwestern corners means any habitat loss disproportionately affects the state’s tiny population.
If you live anywhere except extreme northwestern Florida’s highest elevations, any cottontail you encounter is almost certainly an eastern cottontail rather than this mountain specialist.
Living Alongside Florida’s Rabbits
Understanding Florida’s rabbit diversity helps you appreciate the adaptations that allow these species to coexist. Eastern cottontails dominate open areas and suburban landscapes throughout most of the state.
Marsh rabbits specialize in wetlands, using their swimming abilities and compact bodies to thrive near water. Swamp rabbits occupy a middle ground, preferring wetter areas than cottontails but with denser vegetation than marsh rabbits choose.
Appalachian cottontails barely enter Florida’s northwestern mountains, representing the state’s rarest rabbit.
All these species face similar predators and reproduce prolifically to compensate for high mortality rates. Whether you spot a cottontail’s white tail bobbing through your yard at sunset or glimpse a marsh rabbit’s dark form near a canal, you’re witnessing successful adaptation to Florida’s diverse habitats.
By maintaining brushy cover and native vegetation, you can support these important prey species that help sustain Florida’s broader ecosystem.
