AnimalvsAnimal
Jackrabbit2 crop🐇

Photo: Jim Harper · CC BY-SA 2.5

SpeciesLagomorphaLeporidae
Mammals

🐇Black-tailed jackrabbit

Lepus californicus Gray, 1837

The black-tailed jackrabbit, also known as the American desert hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level up to 10,000 ft (3,000 m). Reaching a length around 2 ft (61 cm), and a weight from 3 to 6 lb, the black-tailed jackrabbit is one of the largest North American hares. Black-tailed jackrabbits occupy mixed shrub-grassland terrains. Their breeding depends on the location; it typically peaks in spring, but may continue all year round in warm climates. Young are born fully furred with eyes open; they are well camouflaged and are mobile within minutes of birth, thus females do not protect or even stay with the young except during nursing. The average litter size is around four, but may be as low as two and as high as seven in warm regions.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
6
Photos
1
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/27th of your weight
Also called
Lepus californicus
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2019.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
2.32 kg
Body length
0.51 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
12 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Black-tailed jackrabbit

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
2.32 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 4.17 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
0.51 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Brain mass
13 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
12 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 12 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
3.36 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
263 days
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
44 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 44 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 3
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Herbivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Nocturnal
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
0.56 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
12 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
2.3 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Black-tailed jackrabbit yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the Black-tailed jackrabbit

What it eats
leaves, roots and other plants100%
In other languages
أرنبوس أسود الذيل (ar), Eselhase (de), Lepus californicus (es), Zwartstaarthaas (nl), калифорнийски заек (bg), llebre californiana (ca) … and 19 more languages

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