OUTDOOR CORNER: IT HOPS, IT SWIMS, IT MUST BE THAT...SWAM RABBIT!

A Swamp Rabbit!?

Ever heard of a rabbit that swims? Well, this creature exists, and lives in Southeast Missouri. It is called a swamp rabbit, or Sylvilagus aquaticus in official terms.

Before European settlement, almost all of the lowlands in southeast Missouri were bottomland hardwood forest, good habitat for swamp rabbits. Swamp rabbits also lived in bottomland forests along rivers. When the forests in Southeast Missouri were cleared in the early 1900's, this type of habitat became scarce and the swamp rabbit was confined to small pockets of bottomland forest.

The swamp rabbit is similar to the eastern cottontail rabbit, a rabbit which is seen in urban and agricultural settings. However, the "swamper" is larger overall, has shorter ears in relation to the size of its body, and its fur has a yellowish cast with dark mottling. It swims and dives well and may surface under overhanging vegetation. However, when lower areas become excessively flooded, the rabbits will seek higher ground. Swamp rabbits marks its territory by leaving droppings on decaying logs. This is the best place to look for signs of them.

The favorite food of swamp rabbits is a sedge called Carex lupulina (locally known as swamp grass). It provides green fodder from spring through the summer and continues to be a food source into the fall. Swamp rabbits also eat other sedges, as well as grasses, herbs, succulent aquatic plants and cane. In winter, swamp rabbits eat the bark and twigs of shrubs such as spicebush, blackberry or raspberry, deciduous holly, or hazelnut.

Swamp rabbits build their nest out of grass, leaves, or twigs in a slight ground depression and then line the nest with fur. Nests may also be built in tall grass or in piles of fallen branches.

Breeding starts in February and females give birth to an average of three to four young. The young are born at a more advanced stage than are young of the eastern cottontail as gestation is about 10 days longer. They have fur at birth, but are blind for their first two or three days. Litters of young may be born in the fall, but most litters are born by mid-July.

Swamp rabbits range from eastern Texas and Oklahoma to South Carolina and from Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, and Southern Indiana south to the gulf coast. They were historically found in Southwest Missouri but this population is no longer present.

In 1991, populations were found as far north as Perry County (at one location) and as far west as Oregon County. Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, and Ripley Counties each had ten or more locations of swamp rabbit populations. Suitable habitat in Missouri has decreased in the last 100 years from 850,000 hectares to 45,000 hectares (1991 estimate). Much of this remaining habitat is scattered and in small pieces. Only half of the potential habitat was inhabited by swamp rabbits in 1991.

The swamp rabbit was classified as rare in Missouri in 1974, although it is still legal to hunt this animal, up to two per day during the rabbit season. However, since 1991, populations have been noticeably scarce and fewer people hunt the swamp rabbit these days. A series of late spring floods starting in 1991 have eliminated nesting habitat and pushed this rare animal to an even more marginal population.

Small populations are vulnerable to inbreeding which may further weaken existing populations. Even minimal hunting pressure on such a population may be detrimental. Without increasing the size and quality of swamp rabbit habitat, this unusual species may spiral downward in numbers and eventually disappear from Missouri.

The Missouri Department of Conservation owns and manages the largest areas of habitat suitable for the swamp rabbit, but private landowners own many smaller tracts of forest, and of course the majority of the land in Southeast Missouri. Keeping forested areas in forest is important for this species. Increasing the size of forest tracts makes it more likely that swamp rabbits could use a particular area.

Upland habitat to shelter the rabbits during periods of high water is also necessary. Swamp rabbits use piles of brush, fallen trees, and dense vegetation (cane or vines) for cover. Private landowners can help this species to survive by providing increased and higher quality habitat for this species.

Janeen Laatsch is a natural history regional biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation.