Unlike the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), they do not form social burrow systems, but compared with some other leporids, they are extremely tolerant of other individuals in their vicinity.

They sometimes cool off, or take refuge in scratched out shallow created depressions of their own making, using their front paws like a back hoe.

Cottontails are rarely found out of their burrows looking for food on windy days, because the wind interferes with their ability to hear approaching predators, their primary defense mechanism.

Some predators, like snakes for example, are familiar with the area inhabited by the cottontails, and can catch and eat the young at will; the mother is unable to defend the litter.

Although cottontails are highly active sexually, and mated pairs have multiple litters throughout the year, few young survive to adulthood.

[6] The desert cottontail is quite similar in appearance to the European rabbit, though its ears are larger and are more often carried erect.

[13] They also feed on the leaves and peas of mesquite, barks, fallen fruit, the juicy pads of prickly pear and twigs of shrubs.

To cope with evaporative heat loss, they do panting and undergo changes in production of their basal metabolic rate in relation to the ambient temperature of the environment.

[2] The desert cottontail's normal behavior upon spotting a potential predator is to freeze in place in an attempt to avoid being detected.

When defending itself against small predators or other desert cottontails, it will nudge with its nose, or slap with its front paws, usually preceded by a hop straight upwards as high as two feet when threatened or taken by surprise.

[10] Habitat loss due to land clearing and cattle grazing may severely affect the population of the desert cottontail.