Park City's Cottontail Rabbits

In Park City, the cottontail rabbit population is the highest it’s been in five years. Research proves that these types of rabbits experience “population peaks” and “population declines” throughout five-year cycles. This shows that the numbers are so high this year because the cottontail species is reaching a population peak. Five years ago, they were rarely spotted. This year, however, the cottontail can be found jumping in front of cars more frequently than ever.

Cottontail rabbits can be identified by their unusually small size. The rabbits appear gray-brown in the summer months and white in the winter months when snow is present in order to camouflage.

Since Park City is home to many of the cottontail species’ predators, it is easy to explain the five-year cycles that the rabbits go through. The small herbivores must deal with predators such as hawks, owls, foxes, snakes, mountain lions, and more. One of the most dangerous predators to these mammals are mountain lions. When the cottontail population is at a spike, Park City’s mountain lion population has more food to prey on. This is one of the main causes of cottontail’s sharp decline every five years. The mountain lions, as well as other predators, treat the rabbits as small snacks. However, as soon as the cottontail population declines because of the increase in predation, the predator population decreases, allowing the cottontail population to spike once more, hence the five-year cycle.

Although the cottontail rabbit population is higher than ever this year, based on the five-year cycle, the population will steadily decline in the next few years. Eventually, the population will reach a low point, and then will start to increase once more.

Sources:

Mitchell, Dean L., and Paul Klimack. "Utah Division of Wildlife Resources."Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.

"Cottontail Numbers Highest in 5 Years." Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.

"Cottontail Rabbit." National Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.