Appalachian cottontail

The Appalachian cottontail, Sylvilagus obscurus, is a rare cottontail rabbit found in the upland areas of the eastern United States. It was recognised as separate from the New England cottontail only in 1992, on the basis of its skull structure and karyotype, and it has six fewer chromosomes than that species; its type locality is Dolly Sods Scenic Area in West Virginia. It is a small light yellow-brown rabbit with mixed brown and black fur on the back, a brown and red patch along the neck, and a mostly white underside, and it is told from the eastern cottontail by a black spot between the ears and no white spot on the forehead. Adults are 39 to 43 centimetres long. It generally feeds on blackberry, greenbriar and mountain laurel, and on the bark and twigs of trees such as red maple, aspen and black cherry. Destruction and maturation of habitat and fragmentation from urban development, which exposes it to more predation, threaten its survival.