How Fast Are Jack Rabbits

Jack Rabbits

Genus Lepus

Jack rabbits are truthful hares considering, different the cottontailed rabbits, they do non build nests. The female parent simply chooses a identify to her liking and the young are born fully furred, with their eyes wide open up.

Take a look at the desert cottontail, named after its cottony-ball-shaped tail, and the jack rabbit, a true hare in the video below:

There are three species of hares (genus Lepus) native to California: the black-tailed, the white-tailed and the snowshoe hare. The black-tailed and white-tailed hares are normally called jack rabbits. The snowshoe (or varying hare) is known as the snowshoe rabbit.

Range

Of these, merely the black-tailed jack rabbit (Lepus californicus) is a desert dweller, inhabiting all iv southwestern deserts. His cousin the antelope jack rabbit (Lepus alleni) prefers to live in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.

The white-tailed jack is the largest of California'south hares. It weighs from vi to viii pounds. In wintertime it is sometimes mistaken for the snowshoe rabbit, because, in the colder parts of its range, individuals turn completely white. The range of the white-tailed jack in California is restricted to the east side of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges from Tulare County n to the Oregon edge.

The snowshoe rabbit'southward range is a long narrow strip from the Oregon border down through the higher elevations of the Klamath, Cascade, and Sierra Nevada ranges as far south equally Tuolumne County. There are a few snowshoe rabbits in the Warner Mountains in Modoc County. The snowshoe is seldom seen for it prefers to alive in dense fir thickets, and in winter is isolated past deep snowfall.

Habitat

Unlike the black-tailed jack, which prefers to live in valleys and flat, open up country, the white-tailed jack lives in the hills and mountains. In their summer coat, in areas where the ranges of these two jack rabbits overlap, at that place may be some confusion as to identity. However the two may exist distinguished by the color of the underside of their tails. The tail of the blackness-tailed jack is brownish underneath; the tail of the white-tailed jack is white.

The snowshoe rabbit is more than easily identified every bit it is the smallest hare. It looks more similar a cottontail rabbit. Its ears are shorter than its head, just the underside of its tail is brown, not white like the cottontail.

Clarification

The black-tailed jack rabbit is 18 to 25 inches long and is colored buff peppered with black above, and white below. The tail has a black stripe in a higher place. The ears are long and brown with black tips. The antelope jack is approximately the same size, simply colored grayness above with the lower sides by and large white. The face, pharynx and ears are brownish, but in that location is no blackness tip on the ears.

The snowshoe rabbit, similar the white-tailed jack, also goes through two annual molts. In early winter information technology turns snowfall white, except for the tips of its ears, which remain black. Its feet become covered with a mat of long hair, to help it run over the soft snow, thus its name "snowshoe". In late spring it molts again to a summer coat of grayish brown.

Life Bike

The snowshoe rabbit and the white-tailed jack may have more than i litter a year. In that location can be as many as seven or 8 in a litter, although the average litter is from ii to four.

The black-tailed jack is by far the virtually common and is found all over California except in the mountainous areas at elevations above 12,000 anxiety. They suit themselves readily to human's use of the land and thrive even in highly developed areas.

In the more temperate areas of the black-tailed jack's range, breeding may continue the year around. Usually several litters are born each year. Here again there may be equally many every bit 8, but the average litter is from 2 to four. The mother hides her young when she goes out to feed, and, upon returning, mother and young phone call to locate each other.

They abound rather rapidly and reach adult size in about 7 or 8 months. Sexual maturity is attained at about the same time, merely young females do not breed until early in the year following their birth. Usually, the expectant mother provides no nest for her young.

Hares have many natural enemies. Coyotes, bobcats, foxes, horned owls, hawks and snakes prey on both the immature and adults. At higher elevations the marten and fisher also prey on the snowshoe.

Hares are agile primarily at night. During the mean solar day they lie crouched in a "form" which they have made by using the same spot in a clump of grass or weeds. With their long ears flattened confronting their dorsum, they are hard to run into. Frequently on hot summer days, they tin be seen resting in the shade of a minor bush or even a fence mail. When frightened they run with such speed that few dogs tin can catch them. At the start of the chase their speed is cleaved by high long leaps.

Hares are strict vegetarians, eating a bang-up variety of herbs and shrubs. In farming areas the blackness-tailed jack may get a serious pest in immature orchards and to other agronomical crops.

It is estimated that most 2 one thousand thousand "jack rabbits" are taken past hunters annually in California. The flesh is excellent eating. In periods of high population, some blackness-tailed jacks, like other game and non-game species, may become diseased and acquit tularemia or be a host to mutual fauna parasites. While this is of minor consequence to humans, intendance should be used in treatment or skinning all animals, equally some diseases are transmissible through open up cuts or abrasions. Cooking thoroughly eliminates any danger.

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