Habitat: Plains and open country, in the foothills, and even in the high mountains. Found in both Upper Sonoran and Transition Life Zones.
Description: A large hare with a white tail and a lanky build, found usually only in open country. Total length (average) 18 to 24 inches. Tail up to 4 inches. Ears up to 6 inches in length. Weight 5 to 8 pounds. Color varies with the seasons. The summer coat is buffy gray, the winter coat is white. The tail, long for a hare, is white throughout the year. The tips of the ears are black both summer and winter. Young, three to six in a litter, born in May. There may be a second litter during late summer. As with all the hare family, the young are well furred and have their eyes open at birth.
The white-tailed jackrabbit is the largest hare native to the United States. Its great size is further emphasized by its rangy build and long legs and ears. Such physical characteristics are usually marks of an animal that is fiercely pursued by its enemies. This denizen of the open country is no exception. It is preyed upon by innumerable predators, including man, the most relentless and cunning of all. Yet its place in the modern world is still secure, for though it is almost totally lacking in offensive weapons, Nature has given it defensive advantages far beyond most other creatures. Perhaps the most important is the deceptive speed with which it floats across the prairie. Fastest of its tribe and exceeded in this respect by only one native animal, the pronghorn, this lanky jackrabbit simply runs away from most pursuit. Effective though this tactic is, the animal uses it usually as a last resort, preferring to employ the exact opposite, that of crouching motionless in an effort to avoid detection. Absolute immobility is itself an admirable defense, but when augmented by camouflage such as this creature possesses it is even more effective.
Like most members of the hare family, the white-tailed jackrabbit is more active at night than during the day. It spends most of the daylight hours resting in a form that it hollows out under shelter of a low shrub or large tuft of grass. In summer the tawny coat blends well with the color of the surroundings, and the winter coat is possibly even more effective. Then the crouched body resembles nothing more than a mound of snow; the black tips of the ears suggest black weed stems sticking up through the white surface.
white-tailed jackrabbit
Mountain cottontail
Sylvilagus nuttalli (Latin: sylva, wood and Greek: lagos, hare. For Nuttal)
Range: Western United States but east of the coastal range of mountains. The northern limits are along the Canadian border; the southern limits in central Arizona and New Mexico.
