---
title: "New England Cottontail"
description: "Sylvilagus transitionalis — Mammals. The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), also known as the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare, wood rabbit, or cooney, is a species of cottontail rabbit that appears in fragmented populations across New England and the state of New York, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/new-england-cottontail
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# New England Cottontail

> Sylvilagus transitionalis — Mammals. The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), also known as the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare, wood rabbit, or cooney, is a species of cottontail rabbit that appears in fragmented populations across New England and the state of New York, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York.

- Scientific name: *Sylvilagus transitionalis*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest)
- iNaturalist observations: 115
- Wikidata: [Q404566](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q404566)
- iNaturalist taxon: [43110](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/43110)

## Names

- en: New England Cottontail
- de: Neuengland-Baumwollschwanzkaninchen
- es: Conejo de Nueva Inglaterra
- fr: Lapin de Nouvelle-Angleterre
- nl: New-Englandkatoenstaart

## Countries with the most observations

US (59)

## Summary

The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), also known as the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare, wood rabbit, or cooney, is a species of cottontail rabbit that appears in fragmented populations across New England and the state of New York, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York. This species bears a close resemblance to the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), which has been introduced in much of the New England cottontail home range. The eastern cottontail is now more common in it.
In 2006, it was estimated that the current area of occupancy in its historic range is 12,180 km2…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_cottontail

## Photo

![New England Cottontail](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/new-england-cottontail/medium.jpg)

Photo: Marissa Balfour · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/153800970

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/new-england-cottontail?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).