Kansas Mammal Atlas

Distribution:
The overall distribution of this hare includes the western United States and Mexico from Washington and South Dakota south through central Mexico. In Kansas, the black-tailed jackrabbit occurs statewide but is more common on the prairies of the West. Kansas. Rangeland near wheat fields are preferred habitat because jackrabbit commonly feed on green wheat during winter.
The genus Lepus originated in the Holarctic in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. Lepus californicus is the most common Lepus in fossil deposits representing the Pleistocene of North America.

(, Museum Voucher) (, Observation) (, Literature Record)
Open icons are questionable records; Click on a marker to view details.

• Occurrence Summary:  
• 456 Total Records 
• 397 Museum Vouchers 
• 59 Other Observations 

Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):
Allen (1); Atchison (1); Barber (6); Barton (4); Bourbon (1); Cherokee (1); Cheyenne (21); Clark (1); Clay (5); Comanche (4); Cowley (1); Crawford (3); Decatur (2); Douglas (18); Ellis (61); Finney (40); Ford (2); Gove (19); Graham (2); Grant (2); Greenwood (6); Hamilton (16); Harvey (8); Haskell (14); Hodgeman (1); Jewell (2); Johnson (1); Kearney (10); Kingman (4); Kiowa (7); Labette (1); Lane (3); Logan (13); Lyon (4); Marion (5); Marshall (2); Meade (15); Miami (1); Mitchell (2); Montgomery (8); Morton (14); Ness (1); Norton (1); Osborne (4); Phillips (10); Pottawatomie (12); Pratt (4); Rawlins (8); Reno (1); Republic (6); Rooks (2); Rush (7); Russell (1); Scott (1); Sedgwick (3); Seward (5); Sheridan (3); Smith (1); Stafford (15); Stanton (6); Stevens (1); Thomas (3); Trego (19); Wallace (9); Wichita (1);

Natural History:
The black-tailed jackrabbit is a characteristic inhabitant of shortgrass rangeland and other arid or simi-arid habitats. They avoid areas of heavy brush or woods, where their principal means of defense, keen eyesight and speed, would be ineffective. They often spend the day sitting in a "form" (a depression) at the base of a shrub or clump of tall grass with their ears (which function as body temperature regulators) turned so they absorb heat in winter or dissipate heat in summer. They emerge in the early evening to feed, at which time they become highly conspicuous. If a predator or other threat appears, jackrabbits can outrun them at speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour. Their populations seem to cycle more-or-less in conceert with the drought cycle, and they have experienced monumental population explosions in the past. For example, a jackrabbit drive in Rush County in 1930 resulted in 6199 dead jackrabbits, and another drive at the same location one month later resulted in the killing of another 11,658 jackrabbits. Nevertheless, the density of jackrabbits in March of 1935 reached 484 per square mile. At high densities, jackrabbits are destructive to habitats.
Adults may attain the following dimensions: total length 535-585 mm; length of tail 71-87 mm; length of hind foot 125-135 mm; length of ear 112-125 mm; weight 2.4-3.9 kg.
Black-tailed jackrabbits eat whatever vegetation is available. Although they seem to prefer succulent green vegetation, their diet depends on their location and the nature of the vegetation at that place. They evidently get all the water they need in their diet. In this regard, during dry winters or drought periods, they consume cactus to obtain water. Like other rabbits and hares, black-tailed jackrabbits produce two kinds of feces. The characteristic "rabbit pellets" are voided during the feeding period at an average rate of 545 pellets per day. During resting periods, soft feces are produced. This type of feces is reingested (a process known as coprophagy), presumably to enhance utilizaton of nutrients or to obtain vitamins synthesized by bacteria living in the intestines. Young may ingest the soft feces of their mother and thereby obtain their own colony of cellulose-digesting, vitamin -producing bacteria. Hard rabbit pellets often contain plant seeds, and germination of the seeds is enhanced by passage through the gut of a hare. In this way, jackrabbits may be partially responsible for the spread of prickly pear in rangeland during drought periods.
Predators known to prey on black-tailed jackrabbits include coyotes, eagles, large hawks, large owls, domestic dogs, and swift foxes. The greatest source of mortality is humans, but fires, hail storms, automobiles, cold weather, and parasites take a toll, as does a condition known as "shock disease."
Throughout most of Kansas, the breeding period of the black-tailed jack rabbit is from late winter to late summer. After a gestation period of from 41 to 47 days, one to eight (usually four) short-eared young from 152 to 178 mm long are born fully furred with eyes open. They are able to move almost immediately, and because the young are so well-developed at birth, there is no need for an elaborate nest to house them. Birth generally takes place in a grass- and fur-lined concavity placed among the grass or under low shrubs, but can take place even on the bare ground. The female nurses the young for three or four weeks although the weaning process begins at about ten days, and at about one month of age the young become independent. They grow rapidly and in two months are nearly adult size. Both sexes reach sexual maturity in the breeding season following their birth.

Occurrence Activity:

Remarks:
Because of its large size, the tracks of this hare are more widely spaced laterally than are those of the smaller cottontails. The larger fecal pellets are also characteristic of this species.Eagles, hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes, and bobcats are the principal predators of the black-tailed jack rabbit. Diseases can reduce a high population to just a few individuals in the course of a month or two. Periodic population fluctuations in this hare are common. The reduction of the native prairie by agriculture has probably caused the greatest decrease in numbers of the black-tailed jack rabbit in Kansas. They do not adapt well to the intense tillage required to produce milo, soybeans, wheat or other grain crops.
The subspecies that occurs in Kansas and surrounding states is Lepus californicus melanotis.

Bibliography:

Account Last Updated:
7/13/2017 10:18:29 AM