Black-tailed jackrabbit
A big-eared hare of Joshua Tree and Lava Beds that dumps body heat through its ears and outruns coyotes in zigzags at 40 miles an hour.
Black-tailed jackrabbit at a glance
Lepus californicus Lepus californicus is LEP-us kal-ih-FOR-nih-kus
- Type
- Mammal · lagomorph
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Size
- Nose to tail, up to about 2 feet long (61 cm) and weighing about as much as a two-liter bottle of soda (3 to 8 pounds / 1.4 to 3.6 kg). Its ears alone run nearly as long as its hind feet.
- Lifespan
- Most live only a year or two in the wild given how many predators hunt them, though individuals have been documented living up to 8 years.
- Conservation
- Least concern
Eats grasses, sagebrush, creosote bush, cactus, clover and alfalfa where it grows
In spring and summer a jackrabbit browses soft green grasses and forbs; in fall and winter, when those dry up, it switches almost entirely to woody shrubs like sagebrush and creosote bush.
Should you worry?
Harmless. A jackrabbit's entire plan is to run, not fight. Watch quietly from a distance, don't chase it (a panicked sprint burns real energy it needs in desert heat), and never try to feed or corner one.
At Lava Beds in July, a jackrabbit lies flattened in whatever shade a sagebrush throws, its two enormous ears standing straight up like antennas tuned to nothing. That posture is the whole trick. Each ear carries a network of blood vessels close enough to the skin that when the animal overheats, the vessels widen and its body warmth pours out into the desert air, the identical cooling trick an elephant works with its own oversized ears half a world away.
The ears aren’t only a radiator. Provoked into a run, a jackrabbit uses those same long limbs to cut sharp zigzags at speeds up to 40 miles an hour, a pattern no straight-line predator can match stride for stride. A coyote closing the gap in a flat sprint has to plant, turn, and re-accelerate every time the jackrabbit breaks left or right, and that half-second of resetting is usually the whole margin the rabbit needed.
It starts life ready for exactly this. A newborn jackrabbit, properly called a leveret, arrives already furred with its eyes open, and it can hop within minutes, nothing like a cottontail’s blind, naked litter tucked in a nest. Come dusk on the sagebrush flats near the Lava Beds campground, one is likely to bolt from cover already at full zigzag, ears laid back, gone before the reason for running ever shows itself.
Did you know?
- Its ears work like an elephant's: blood vessels near the surface widen in the heat and let body warmth radiate away into the air, cooling the animal without sweat.
- It can run in tight zigzags at up to 40 miles an hour, a pattern that breaks a coyote's straight-line chase.
- A newborn jackrabbit is called a leveret, and unlike a cottontail's blind, naked babies, it's born fully furred with its eyes open and can hop within minutes.
Common questions
Why do jackrabbits have such big ears?
Mostly to cool off. Blood vessels near the surface of the ear widen in the heat, so body warmth radiates out into the air, the same trick an elephant uses.
How fast can a jackrabbit run?
Up to about 40 miles an hour, and it runs in sharp zigzags rather than a straight line, which makes it hard for a coyote or eagle to catch.
Is a jackrabbit a rabbit?
No, it's a hare. Hares are born furred with their eyes open and ready to hop, while true rabbits are born blind, naked, and helpless in a den.
What do jackrabbits eat?
Grasses and soft green plants in spring and summer, then woody shrubs like sagebrush and creosote bush once the green plants dry up.