White-tailed Jackrabbit
Lepus townsendii
To evade predators, they can leap up to 16 feet in a single bound and reach sprinting speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
- Scientific name
- Lepus townsendii
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Lagomorpha › Leporidae › Lepus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Open grasslands, prairies, sagebrush steppes, and alpine meadows.
- Diet
- Grasses, clover, and forbs in summer; woody twigs, bark, and buds in winter.
- Range
- United States Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Southern Canada
- Size
- 56-65 cm (22-26 inches) long, weighing 3-4.5 kg (6.6-10 lbs)
- Lifespan
- 1 to 4 years in the wild
- Active
- crepuscular
- Threats
- Habitat loss due to agriculture and urbanization, competition with introduced species, and diseases such as Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV2).
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and highly skittish. Maintain a safe distance of 15-20 feet to avoid startling them. They will almost always flee rather than confront humans. In the extremely rare event of a bite or scratch from handling a cornered animal, wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water and seek medical attention due to the risk of tularemia.
The white-tailed jackrabbit ( Lepus townsendii ), also known as the prairie hare and the white jack , is a species of hare found in western North America. Like all hares and rabbits, it is a member of the family Leporidae of order Lagomorpha. It is a solitary individual except where 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...
Photo: TheIguana, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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