Vo 1. 14, No. 9 
Page 3 
one nest was found on every sanctuary at Bogota this summer -- including 
the GO-acre J. McCormack Sanctuary on the south edge of the study area. 
6. Rabbit Management G* B. Rose 
Energy consumed per day (MV/RL 13(2):4-5) by cottontail rabbits during 
the period February 1970 through July 1971 was negatively correlated with 
ambient temperature. The correlation was highly significant for cottontails 
in outdoor cages and for cottontails in outdoor pens. The regression of 
the number of grams of commercial rabbit chow consumed per day, Y, on the mean 
air temperature for the experimental period, X, is expressed as^==11 J. 48-0.362X 
for the rabbits in pens, and as '£=90.02-0.465X for the rabbits in cages. 
Similarly, a highly significant negative correlation exists between 
daily energy consumption per gram A of body weight and ambient temperature.. 
The relationship is expressed by Y=0.108-0.00041X for the penned cottontails, 
and Y=0.079-0. 00043X for those in cages, when X is the mean air temperature 
and Y is the number of grams of rabbit chow consumed per day per gram of 
body weight. 
The inverse relationship between energy utilization by the rabbits 
and air temperature probably results from the decreasing requirements of 
energy for thermoregulation by homoiothermic animals as the zone of 
thermoneutrality (the range of temperatures at which no energy is expended 
for maintenance of body temperature) is approached. 
The correlation coefficients (between ambient temperature and food 
consumed per day, and between ambient temperature and food consumed per 
day per gram body weight) for the caged cottontails were greater than for 
the penned cottontails, suggesting that confinement in cages restricts the 
opportunity for seasonal changes in activity, and thus results in a more 
direct relationship between ambient temperature and energy consumption 
than occurs with animals in pens. 
Similarly, the correlation coefficients, for both caged and penned 
cottontails, between ambient temperature and grams of food consumed per 
day per gram body weight, were greater than the correlation coefficients 
between ambient temperature and grams of food consumed per day. Thus, 
the elimination of the variation caused by differences in body weight of 
individuals resulted in a closer relationship between ambient temperature 
and food consumption. 
