Black-Tailed Jackrabbit
The black-tailed jackrabbit is the only American hare that lives in desert environments.
About This Species
Jackrabbits are, properly speaking, not rabbits but hares, like the snowshoe hare. Hares have longer feet than rabbits and usually have longer ears. Most hares live in open country, whereas cottontails live in brushy habitats. Perhaps the most important distinction between them is that cottontails are born blind, nearly naked and helpless. Hares, by contrast, are born fully furred and ready to hop. The black-tailed jackrabbit is also known as the American desert hare.
More Information:
Physical Characteristics
Size
The largest of the North American hare species, adult black-tailed jackrabbits have a total length of about 50 to 60 cm (20 to 24 in) from nose to rear. The length of their tail is 6 to 9 cm (2 to 3.5 in), ears, 10 to15 cm (3.9 to 5.9 in), and hind feet about 14 cm (5.5 in). They weigh 2.4 to 3.9 kg (5.2 to 8.6 lb). Females are slightly larger than males.
Appearance
The black-tailed jackrabbit has long ears with black tips and very long front and rear legs. It has peppery brown fur and a black stripe that runs down its back. As the name suggests, it has a black tail. Males and females look alike, but females are usually larger.
Range
The black-tailed jackrabbit lives in semi-desert country in southern, western, and eastern Colorado, and on disturbed prairie in the east. In the correct habitat, can live up to 3,000 m (10,000 ft) in elevation.
Habitat
Agriculture on the eastern plains probably has favored black-tailed jackrabbits over white-tails.
Diet
Hares are vegetarians, eating tender herbs in summer, and woody twigs and bark in winter.
Reproduction
Male black-tailed jackrabbits reach sexual maturity around 7 months of age, while females usually breed in the spring of their second year, although females born in spring or early summer may breed in their first year. The give birth in shallow depressions called "forms." Jackrabbits may have four litters a year. Gestation is about six weeks. They live to be six to eight years old on average.