A Survey of ​Sylvilagus sp.

​ Behavior Along
Meadows Canyon Trail

Tammy Wang
IB 104 The Natural History of Vertebrates
17 April, 2018

Introduction

Rabbits are known to be crepuscular animals, but little is known comparatively about

their level of activity between the morning and afternoon. The purpose of this study is to perform

a small scale analysis of rabbit behavior to reveal possible patterns in the type of activities they

engage in over time, and peaks in their activity level throughout the day. Results from this study

may elucidate more information about rabbit behavior, and, in general, ​Sylvilagus​ natural history.

There are two ​Sylvilagus species in Tilden Regional Park: ​Sylvilagus audubonii and

Sylvilagus bachmani​. Both ​Sylvagilus species belong to the family Leporidae and the order

Lagomorpha. The ​Sylvilagus ​audubonii and the ​Sylvilagus bachmani both have brown-grey salt

and pepper fur covering their entire body except the nape, which is rufous colored, and their

belly and feet, which appear to be white. However, the ​Sylvilagus audubonii ​has black tipped

ears, and is slightly larger than the ​Sylvilagus bachmani (the ​Sylvilagus audubonii generally has

slightly larger ears, feet, and tail, and weighs 735-946 g on average, compared to the ​Sylvilagus

bachmani which weighs 499-684 g on average). ¹ The range of the ​Sylvilagus audubonii extends

from North Dakota and Montana to California down to northern Mexico. The range of the

Sylvilagus bachmani is less widespread; it inhabits the coast of Oregon, California, and south
through Baja California. Both ​Sylvilagus species make tunnels and runways through dense

vegetation. They do not dig burrows, but live in brush habitats; however, the habitat of the

Sylvilagus audubonii can be more varied, as members of this species can also live in desert and

grassland habitats. Both rabbits tend to feed singularly, or gather in groups at good feeding areas.

According to the Peterson field guide to mammals of North America, ​Sylvilagus

bachmani is mostly nocturnal, while ​Sylvilagus audubonii is most active shortly after dawn and

at dusk. Given that wild rabbits are generally crepuscular animals, meaning they are most active

at dawn and dusk, this study was conducted in a three hour time frame after dawn and before

dusk. Within these three hour increments, I observed ​Sylvilagus rabbits through one walk down

the Meadows Canyon trail in Tilden Regional Park. Using the focal sampling method, each

rabbit will be observed and sorted into its appropriate category of behavior.

The primary hypothesis of this study is that there is no significant difference in the

frequency of observed behaviors in ​Sylvilagus sp. ​in the morning and afternoon. This hypothesis

was formed based on assumptions that, since rabbits are only active in a small window of time in

the morning and afternoon, whether they are awake in the morning or afternoon does not

significantly impact their specific activities. Focal samples of ​Sylvilagus sp. along the Meadows

Canyon trail for a total duration of approximately 30 hours of field work will be conducted for

this study.

Methods

Data on ​Sylvilagus sp. behavior was collected during March and April 2018 along the

Meadows Canyon trail in Tilden Regional Park, located in the Berkeley Hills of Contra Costa

County, California. Tilden Regional Park is a 2,079 acre regional park made up of a combination
of grassland, chaparral, woodland, and forest habitat. This mountainous terrain is located next to

residential areas in the Berkeley Hills. To minimize anthropomorphic impact in the park, electric

light is absent from this area. The Meadows Canyon trail ranges from 178 meters to 291 meters

high in elevation, and is approximately 1.5 miles long. This trail is made up of a combination of

grassland, oak woodland, and mainly chaparral habitats.

The periods of observation occurred for three hours in the morning, from 8:00-11:00 AM,

and for three hours in the afternoon, from 4:00-7:00 PM. Within these three hour increments, I

walked the Meadows Canyon trail to look for ​Sylvilagus sp. using the focal sampling method.

Upon finding a ​Sylvilagus sp., I recorded the time the ​Sylvilagus sp. was seen and the behavior it

was engaged in. After recording this data, I spent up to five minutes maximum overseeing the

rabbit’s behavio​r and attempting to identify the ​Sylvilagus to a species. Notes on the habitat that

the ​Sylvilagus sp​. was found in, as well as how it interacts with the environm​ent was also

recorded. Data was collected through visual observation with the aid of binoculars.

Observational data was collected and organized into quantitative data. Upon finding a

Sylvilagus sp.​, I recorded its behavior and timed the duration of this behavior within a five

minute maximum focal sampling period. A ​Sylvilagus sp. may not be visible to the viewer for a

full five minutes, but only the behavior observed upon initial sighting was used for this study.

Whenever it was possible, I attempted to identify each ​Sylvilagus ​to its species; however, it is

acceptable to use ​Sylvilagus sp. to organize data should the ​Sylvilagus audubonii and ​Sylvilagus

bachmani be too hard to distinguish. Attempts to identify the ​Sylvilagus sp. in the data may

reveal possible differences in behavior between the ​Sylvilagus audubonii and the ​Sylvilagus

bachmani​.
 After collecting this data, each observed ​Sylvilagus sp. behavior was sorted into one of

four discrete categories: 1) feeding, 2) sitting, 3) running, and 4) grooming. Thus, by organizing

this data, I was able to quantify the frequency with which a ​Sylvilagus sp. may be found and the

likelihood that it can be found performing a specific behavior.

Results

Over the course of 30 hours, 49 ​Sylvilagus rabbits were found, of which 30 were seen in

the morning and 19 were found in the afternoon.

Each rabbit was sorted into a category of four behaviors: 1) feeding, 2) sitting, 3)

running, 4) grooming. See Figure 1 for visualizations on the frequency of each behavior

observed in the morning and afternoon.

 Discussion

The primary finding of this study is that there appears to be no significant difference in

the frequency of observed behaviors in ​Sylvilagus sp. in the morning and in the afternoon, which

supports the initial hypothesis.

 Figure 1 represents the total number of rabbits found performing the four behaviors in the

morning and in the afternoon. The graph reveals that the frequency of finding a rabbit

performing a specific behavior in the morning or afternoon does not change depending on the

time of day. Rather, in general, one is more likely to find rabbits running than sitting, and more

likely to find rabbits sitting than feeding, regardless of whether it is morning or afternoon. The

data also suggests that it is very unlikely to find a rabbit grooming itself. Note, the method of

sampling I used only allowed me to sort rabbits into categories depending on the behavior I

initially observed them performing. A rabbit may proceed to groom or perform other behaviors

after the initial behavior I observed, but activities besides the behavior of interest was not

included in the study.

The scatter plot depicted in Figure 2 represents the total number of rabbits found per day

at the start of each three-hour long observational period. The plot reveals no relationship between

rabbit density and temperature.

Figure 3 plots overall rabbit density as a function of time. The graph reveals implicit

relationships between rabbit density and time. There appears to be a negative linear relationship

between rabbit density and time in the morning, for starting at 8:00 AM, rabbit activity decreases

drastically towards 11:00 AM. On the other hand, there appears to be a positive linear

relationship between rabbit density and time in the afternoon; rabbit activity increases overall

from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

Figure 4 visualizes the proportion of ​Sylvilagus sp. I was able to identify. The elusive

nature of ​Sylvilagus sp. made the classification of species difficult for me while doing field work.

With the proportion of ​Sylvilagus audubonii and ​Sylvilagus bachmani I was able to identify, I
surmise that there is no significant variation in behavior between the two species relative to the

four categories I am interested in. However, I believe further investigation in the differences

between these two species may yield potentially interesting results, for a large amount of my data

was attributed only to the genus ​Sylvilagus​.

Since more rabbits were found in the morning overall compared to that of the afternoon,

this suggests that rabbits are more active in the morning even if the proportion of behaviors they

engage in is not significantly different from those they perform in the afternoon. This suggests

that inherent differences between the morning and afternoon, such as sunlight, temperature, and

relative activity of other animals does influence the lifestyle of ​Sylvilagus sp. Their preference

for morning activity implies a possible dependence on sunlight for food or predator detection.

However, this correlation could be a result of external factors, such as higher levels of hikers and

dogs walking along the trail in the afternoon. Overall, results from this study revealed more

information about the natural history of ​Sylvilagus sp​. with regard to the type of behavior they

engage in in the morning and in the afternoon beyond the fact that they are crepuscular animals.

At least along Meadows Canyon trail, there appears to be a preference in ​Sylvilagus sp. for

morning activity.

One limitation on this study is the fact that the observer cannot find rabbits in the dark as

time gets closer to 7:30 PM, which is the approximate time of sunset. Most likely by chance, I

did not find any rabbits in the morning before 8:30 AM; however, this implies that rabbit activity

increases from 8:00 AM, peaks around 9:00 AM, and continuously declines towards 11:00 AM.

In the afternoon, rabbit activity clearly increases starting from 4:00 PM and continues increasing

even at the end of the observational period. It would be interesting to use night vision cameras or
thermal sensors to look for rabbits past 7:30 PM to determine when the peak level of activity is

and its rate of decline as time progresses into the night.

A flaw in this study is the irregular pace with which I walked the Meadows Canyon trail.

The pace was not set at a constant rate throughout the three hour increments. The pace was set

rather arbitrarily, as I subjectively determined the time to move on as long as the time spent on

the trail ranged from 8:00-11:00 AM or 4:00-7:00 PM.

Future studies that could improve upon this study would implement a regular pace for the

observer to walk to keep the results as accurate as possible. Also, it would be helpful to set

checkpoints along the trail or map out different habitats, to determine how ​Sylvilagus sp.

abundance varies along the Meadows Canyon trail. Observations throughout this study suggests

that there may be a relationship between anthropogenic presences and the abundance of

Sylvilagus sp.
Bibliography

​ eid, Fiona A. ​Peterson Field Guide to Mammals of North America: Fourth Ed.​National
1) R
Audubon Society, The National Wildlife Federation, The Roger Tory Peterson Institute,
2006.