What Do Rabbits Do to Attract Mates?

The most common species of wild rabbit in North America is Sylvilagus floridanus, more commonly known as the Eastern cottontail, according to Pennsylvania State University. Cottontails are relatively small rabbits, typically weighing 2 to 3 pounds and about 15 to 18 inches in length. Their fur ranges in color from light brown to dark gray, and they hold their long ears erect. This rabbit’s short, white, fluffy tail gives this species its common name.

Breeding season for cottontails begins each year in February or March and continues until September. Gestation lasts about 30 days, allowing the rabbits ample time to produce four or five litters a season. Litter size ranges from three to eight baby rabbits or kits, averaging four or five.

Before a litter's conceived, adult rabbits go through an interesting mating ritual in order to attract and select a mate. A male and a female, also known as a buck and a doe, perform a sort of dance in which the buck chases the doe until she stops, faces the buck and boxes him with her front paws. This goes on until one of the pair leaps straight into the air. The second rabbit also leaps into the air, completing the ritual and signalling that mating can now take place.

With many mammals, mating times are determined by the female’s estrous cycle or ovulation cycle, when she is considered to be in heat. Rabbit does are somewhat unusual in their ovulation: It doesn’t occur until after they have mated. For this reason, sexually mature female rabbits are considered to basically be permanently in estrus and ready to mate.