Dice's Cottontail

About the Dice's Cottontail

Dice's cottontail (Sylvilagus dicei) is a species of cottontail rabbit that is native to the Cordillera de Talamanca mountain range in Costa Rica and Panama. It is a large cottontail rabbit with black and brown fur, dull white undersides, a brown patch of fur on its throat and a small, barely visible black tail. It is found at elevations up to 3,800 metres (12,500 ft) and resides in páramo grasslands and cloud forest habitats.

This cottontail is closely related to the common tapeti, a widespread South American rabbit it was once thought to be a subspecies of. The Central American tapeti, a similar-looking rabbit species, is also closely related to Dice's cottontail. Bamboo is a staple of the cottontail's diet, which includes grasses and other leafy vegetation. Its main predators are carnivores, including coyotes and tayras. Increased urbanization and agricultural developments have degraded lowland habitats, leading Dice's cottontail to be forced to higher elevations. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers it to be a vulnerable species, and Costa Rica has banned hunting of the animal since 2012.

Dice's cottontail was first described... Wikipedia →