White-Tailed Jackrabbit
The largest of Colorado's hares, the white-tailed jackrabbit lives in all but the highest elevations in the state.
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 white-tailed jackrabbit is also known as the prairie hare.
More Information:
Physical Characteristics
Size
Adult length of 56 to 65 cm (22 to 26 in), including a tail measuring 6.6 to 10.2 cm (2.6 to 4.0 in), and weighs between 2.5 and 4.3 kg (5.5 and 9.5 lb). The ear, from the notch, measures from 10 to 11.3 cm (3.9 to 4.4 in) and the hindfoot measures 14.5 to 16.5 cm (5.7 to 6.5 in).
Appearance
It has distinctive, large black-tipped grey ears that are chestnut brown and white on the inner surface, and the long, powerful hind legs characteristic of hares. The back, flanks and limbs are dark brown or greyish-brown and the underparts are pale grey. The tail is white with a dark central stripe above. Females are slightly larger than males. Jackrabbits shed their fur in the autumn and become white all over except for their ears.
Range
In the correct habitat, can live up to 3,000 m (10,000 ft) in elevation.
Habitat
The white-tailed jackrabbit lives in mountain parks with scattered conifer trees, sagebrush country, and native shortgrass prairie.
Diet
Hares are vegetarians, eating tender herbs in summer, and woody twigs and bark in winter.
Reproduction
White-tailed jackrabbits are solitary except when several males court a female in the breeding season. Litters of four to five young are born in a "form", a shallow depression in the ground, hidden among vegetation. Jackrabbits may have four litters a year. Gestation is about six weeks.