The Jackalope Trail

 

by Pa Rock

Nature Lover

A way out west where I have driven the past two summers, it is not uncommon to come across tourist merchandise featuring what some claim is a representation of a "mythical" creature that resembles a rabbit or hare with deer antlers - and is commonly known as a "jackalope," which, one supposes, represents a biological cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope.  (A cross between a jackass and a cantaloupe would bear no resemblance whatsoever to the horned bunnies on the postcards, but, if it was wearing a long, red tie . . .)

Let's begin by clarifying the difference between rabbits and hares.  Google's AI, whose name I have yet to learn, coughed up the following quick assessment:

"Rabbits are typically smaller, more compact animals that live in social groups in underground burrows called warrens, while hares are larger with longer legs and ears, are more solitary, and build simple, above-ground nests.  Other key differences include baby hares being born fully furred and alert (leverets), unlike helpless newborn rabbits (kittens), and some hares changing their fur color seasonally for camouflage."

(Most of what we have here in the Ozarks are the small, furry rabbits who are always on the lookout for a nice garden to ravage, but in my youth I did see one jackrabbit (a hare) in the wild on the edge of Swars Prairie in Newton County, MO, which is technically part of the Ozarks.  There were also several hares residing the depths of an extremely large ground-cover cactus outside of my office at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.   Many afternoos I would walk to the base quick stop on my break, buy an apple, consume it on the way back to work, and toss the core into the cactus, something which the desert hares seemed to greatly appreciate.  But I digress.)

American folklore about the jackalope creature goes back at least to the 1930's when a pair of brothers in Douglas, Wyoming, who also happened to be taxidermists, threw the carcass of a jackrabbit onto the floor next to a pair of deer antlers and a legend was born - or at least transformed into a life-like visual.  In 1985 Wyoming officially declared itself the "Home of the Jackalope."

This week there was an article in the on-line version of Smithsonian Magazine which discussed  recent sightings of horned, cotton-tail bunnies in northern Colorado not far from the Wyoming border.  The article discussed and quickly dismissed the myth of jackalopes and revealed the cause of the bone-like growths recently seen rabbit's foreheads.  The "horns," which have been known about and studied for some time, are the result of a virus that often surfaces around this time of year.  The rabbits' immune system will combat the virus, usually defeat it, and the horns will fall on later in the season, posing very little health risk to the animals in the process.

Of course it could also be the case that jackalopes are real, perhaps brought to earth by visiting aliens from outer space or something conceived at a kinky orgy on Epstein Island, and our government is lying to us like they have been about Bigfoot, chupacabras, and the Epstein "suicide."

But who am I to say?

It's time to climb into my saddle

And ride the Jackalope Trail!