---
title: "Southern Cotton Rat"
description: "Sigmodon hirsutus — Mammiferi. The southern cotton rat (Sigmodon hirsutus) is a rodent species in the family Cricetidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/southern-cotton-rat
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Southern Cotton Rat

> Sigmodon hirsutus — Mammiferi. The southern cotton rat  (Sigmodon hirsutus) is a rodent species in the family Cricetidae.

- Scientific name: *Sigmodon hirsutus*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammiferi)
- Habitats: `forest` (Foresta), `savanna` (Savana), `jungle` (Giungla)
- iNaturalist observations: 77
- Wikidata: [Q1764463](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1764463)
- iNaturalist taxon: [75078](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/75078)

## Names

- en: Southern Cotton Rat
- de: Südliche Baumwollratte
- es: Rata algodonera
- pl: Bawełniak kosmaty

## Countries with the most observations

CR (15), HN (8), PA (8), CO (6), MX (6), SV (6), NI (4)

## Summary

The southern cotton rat  (Sigmodon hirsutus) is a rodent species in the family Cricetidae. It is found from southern Chiapas in Mexico through Central America, except for Belize, and as far east as northern Colombia and Venezuela. It lives in tropical rainforest, dry forest and savanna, as well as in cultivated areas. The species is terrestrial and primarily diurnal.  It was long thought to be a subspecies of S. hispidus.  However, recent taxonomic revisions, based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data, have split the extensive former species range into three separate species.  Carroll et al. (2004) indicate that the…

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

## Photo

![Southern Cotton Rat](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/southern-cotton-rat/medium.jpg)

Photo: Carlos Ceballos · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/335405712

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/southern-cotton-rat?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).