SWAMPERS & COTTONTAILS

[outrider66]

If swampers were introduced to an area that had cottontails would they breed ?

[Rcoff]

Wild Swamper is a wild Eastern Cottontail rabbit, therefore the same species and can inter breed successfully.
Thanks,
Bob

[Bigboy kennel]

We have cottontails and swampers here in southeast Texas. They probably can since they are both are in the cottontail family. I can tell you they are diffrrent.

[Lone Pine Beagles]

They do not cross.

[Alabama John]

Right, down here they do not cross.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

When I've gone out to west Tn. or down in the Mississippi Delta we have run and killed "hillbillies" [cottontails ] in the fields,hillsides,hedgerows,etc.where you'd expect to find them.The much larger swampers/canecutters are almost always down in the bottoms somewhere near a water source.Although we have found them together in the same cover occasionally.
According to the biologists the swamper is a sub-species of cottontail.I doubt they interbreed with the smaller species of cottontail as they are definetely a lot bigger and do have a different look to them especially their head/face.They also have a much different running style and take to and use the water to a much larger degree than any cottontail I've ever run.
Have shot a lot of swampers and some cottontails in the same cover but never shot one that was say,medium and looked like it could be one or another.Even young swampers to me have their own particular look and not the same as the traditional cottontail.
Don't know a whole lot about the sub-species of cottontails but have heard of several different ones; New England cottontail,Marsh rabbit,Bluetailed rabbit.

[Rowco Beagle Kennels]

In eastern NC we run cottontails and rabbits locally called swamp rabbits that are not like the swampers west of us. They will sometimes be as large as cottontails but do not usually run big. they like to run short and squat. They are probably what some are calling blue tails and marsh rabbits.

[smokedawg]

I have hunted them all over Southeastern Louisiana and Southwest Mississippi area and no they dont interbreed, or at least that is what the book says. We have killed a few that looked like a cross but sometimes an immature swamper can resemble a streaker(cottontail). Comparing a mature swamp rabbit to a mature streaker, you will notice that the swamp rabbit of course if much larger and his ears are much smaller in size compared to his body size. Also, most of the mature swampers I kill are alittle darker and have a lot of black hairs mixed in their coat. The streaker(cottonail) will have bigger ears in relation to the size of his body. We sometimes jump both types in the same briar patch as we hunt cutovers along the Tangipahoa River swamp. Anyhow, the book says that they dont interbreed.

[Rcoff]

I did some research and there is not enough evidence to support one way or another. In other words, nobody knows for sure scientifically. Trap a gender of a Swamper, different gender of cottontail and put them in an enclosure, keeping in mind that Swampers do not breed until they are at least 1 year old and see if you get offspring. If I was to bet I would bet you would, but that is just my opinion.
Thanks,
Bob