The wild brown rabbit, such as the Eastern Cottontail, is a strict herbivore whose survival depends on finding and processing plant matter. Their digestive system is highly specialized to handle a high-fiber diet. Understanding what they consume throughout the year illustrates an adaptive feeding strategy fundamental to this species thriving across varied environments. The specific composition of their diet changes dramatically with the seasons, directly influencing their health and reproductive success.
Primary Forage and Herbaceous Plants
During the warmer months of spring, summer, and early fall, the wild rabbit’s diet consists predominantly of fresh, tender, and high-moisture herbaceous plants. Grazing on various grasses, including species like timothy, bluegrasses, and orchard grass, is their staple activity, providing the bulk of their necessary fiber intake. They also seek out low-lying broad-leafed weeds and forbs such as clover, dandelion, and plantain, which offer a richer source of proteins and vitamins. This green vegetation is consumed frequently throughout the day, often during crepuscular hours when the risk of predation is lower. The high water content in these fresh plants also contributes significantly to hydration, meaning they often do not need to seek out standing water sources.
Continuous foraging on this soft, leafy material helps ensure the constant movement of food through their digestive tract. Rabbits consume a wide variety of plant species, sometimes including over 70 different types of vegetation when available. These preferred plants are dense in nutrients that are easily accessible, supporting the high energy demands of reproduction and growth during the peak seasons. Their selective feeding on the most palatable and nutritious parts maximizes their caloric intake.
Winter Dietary Adaptations
As winter approaches and the ground freezes or becomes covered with snow, available food sources for the wild rabbit change dramatically, forcing a shift in foraging behavior. The lush, green forages die back, and the rabbit must turn to tougher, dormant, and more fibrous woody materials. This survival feeding includes stripping the bark from young trees and shrubs, which can cause damage to orchard or ornamental plants. They also consume the tips of branches, buds, and exposed dried grasses that protrude above the snow line.
The winter diet is significantly lower in nutritional value and moisture than their summer fare, containing a much higher proportion of difficult-to-digest cellulose. They target specific species for bark and twigs, including sumac, black cherry, maple, and birch, relying on these materials for energy when little else is accessible. This high-cellulose intake provides the bulk needed to keep their gut motile. However, the energy extracted is often less than what is expended, causing them to rely on stored fat reserves until the spring thaw restores the herbaceous plant life.
Essential Nutritional Behaviors
Beyond eating plants, the wild rabbit engages in coprophagy, a specialized nutritional behavior essential for fully extracting all necessary nutrients from their fibrous diet. This involves the production and re-ingestion of a soft fecal pellet called a cecotrope, which is distinct from their regular, hard waste pellets. Cecotropes are formed in the cecum, a specialized blind pouch in the digestive tract where bacterial fermentation breaks down plant cellulose.
The rabbit consumes these soft pellets directly from the anus, typically during the quieter periods. This re-ingestion allows them to absorb B vitamins and certain amino acids (proteins) synthesized by the gut bacteria during the first digestive pass. Without this process, the rabbit would suffer from nutritional deficiencies because the initial digestion does not allow for full absorption of these microbial byproducts. Cecotrophy is a critical biological adaptation that ensures the efficient utilization of the high-fiber plant materials that make up their entire diet.