Effect of domestic rabbit urine on trap response in cottontail rabbits

Low capture rates of cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) are common. We hypothesized that urine as an olfactory attractant would increase trapp ing success because rabbits scent-mark their territories with urine. We ass essed trap response in cottontail rabbits using clean traps (control), trap s baited with food, traps baited with block salt and minerals, and traps ba ited with urine from non-pregnant domestic rabbit does. We caught 314 cotto ntail rabbits during 2,000 trap-nights conducted from July through August, 1996. We captured more cottontails in traps baited with rabbit urine (P<0.0 01) than in the others, suggesting that olfactory cues are important in the behavior of cottontail rabbits. Capture frequencies were 2.8, 13.4, 17.0, and 29.6% for control traps and traps baited with food, salt, and urine, re spectively. Sex ratios of captured rabbits did not deviate from a 1:1 relat ionship for each bait or for all baits combined.