Illustration by Gerald Rapp & Cullen Inc./Laszlo Kubinyi
White-Tailed Jackrabbit
Lepus townsendii campanius
Subspecies of Jackrabbit
September 14, 1804, near present-day Chamberlain, South Dakota.
Buffy gray above; white or pale gray below. Tail white above and below; long ears; buff or gray on fronts; on backs, whitish with black stripe on tip. Length: 22–26 in (56.5–65.5 cm); tail: 2.6–4.4 in (6.6–11.2 cm). Weight: 5.8–9.5 lb (2.6–4.3 kg).
Barren, grazed, or cultivated lands; grasslands.
Eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and northeastern California east through Minnesota, Iowa, and Kansas.
One of the least social of hares, the white-tailed jackrabbit tends to be solitary except during the mating season, when three or four individuals may group together. A nocturnal animal, it hides during the day.
