Mountain Cottontail

The mountain cottontail, also called Nuttall's cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii, is a species of rabbit found across mountainous parts of western Canada and the United States, including the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade-Sierra Nevada ranges. It is a medium to small rabbit with pale brown fur, white underparts, a two-colored tail, rusty-colored legs, and black-tipped, rounded ears with densely furred insides, and it favors coniferous forest habitat where it feeds on grasses, shrubs, and sagebrush, supplementing with twigs, bark, or fungi when other food is scarce. First described in 1837 by John Bachman as Lepus nuttallii and later placed in the genus Sylvilagus in 1904, it is closely related to the desert cottontail. Its range has contracted due to climate change and competition from the eastern cottontail and other rabbits, and while the IUCN lists the species overall as Least Concern, some state and provincial assessments, including Arizona and British Columbia, consider it vulnerable. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/