While hiking in a park in California last weekend, I saw a few examples of this mammal foraging for food in the morning hours. Also known as the Western Brush Rabbit or Californian Brush Rabbit – it is a species of cottontail rabbit found in western coastal regions of North America.

The Brush Rabbit is a small rabbit that weighs 1-2 pounds and has short legs and a short tail. It is dark gray on the sides and back, and pale gray on the belly. Its range is confined to the Pacific coast, from the Columbia river in the north to the tip of Baja, Mexico in the south.

These mammals require dense bramble clumps or other thick brushy habitat. These bramble clumps often have extensive networks of trails and runways. The species will occasionally use burrows made by other species, but does not dig its own.

Brush Rabbits forage alone or in small groups. They can be seen sunning in the mid-morning, but are otherwise secretive and wary. They thump the ground with their back feet when startled. They feed mainly on grasses and are not hunted by humans, due to their small size.

They are smaller than a number of the other cottontails, and unlike most of them, they have a grey underside to their tail instead of white (which possibly is why they do not have “cottontail” in their common name). It was neat to encounter this cool creature while visiting the Golden State.

Third Eye Herp
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