Defecation rate of Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) and European Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus)

Abstract

Pellet count techniques are a useful tool to assess the density of many mammal species, such as European Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus) and Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). Different methods have been developed, some of them accounting for the decay rate of pellets in the study area, nevertheless all of them require the estimated number of droppings produced through time by the single individual, the “defecation rate. Despite this very few papers define this value for the two species. Daily droppings produced by five caged individuals of Eastern Cottontail were collected from November 2013 to March 2014 and the daily number of pellets produced by four couples of caged European Brown Hare was estimated from March to October 2013. The effect of environmental temperature on the production of pellet was measured, to check for potential seasonal differences. A defecation rate of 485.9 ± 34.05 pellets per day was estimated for S.floridanus, whereas a value of 394.9 ± 16.94 pellets per day was estimated for L.europaeus. Environmental temperature did not influence the defecation rate of the two species.