Overview
AT A GLANCE
- Common Name: White-tailed Jackrabbit
- Scientific Name: Lepus townsendii
- Category: Mammals
- Subcategory: Lagomorphs
- Size: Total body length: 56-65 cm (22-26 in); Ear length: 10-12 cm (4-4.7 in); Hind foot length: 14-16 cm
- Weight: 2.5-4.5 kg (5.5-9.9 lb), making it the largest hare species in the contiguous United States
- Lifespan: 3-5 years in the wild; rarely up to 8 years in captivity
- Diet: Herbivore; native prairie grasses (needlegrass, western wheatgrass), sedges, forbs, alfalfa, winter buds, sagebrush twigs, and tree bark
- Habitat: Open shortgrass and mixed-grass prairies, sagebrush steppes, alpine meadows, and high-plateau pastures up to 3,000 meters elevation
- Range: Western and central North America, from the Canadian prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) south across the Great Plains and Great Basin to northern New Mexico and California
- Conservation Status: Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
The White-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii), also known as the prairie hare, is a magnificent, powerful, and exceptionally fleet-footed lagomorph native to the expansive open grasslands and sagebrush steppes of western North America. Crowned as the heaviest and most robust hare species in the United States, this charismatic prairie dweller is celebrated for its incredible running prowess and its remarkable dual-season camouflage. Across northern latitudes, it undergoes a complete biannual molt, shedding its grizzled brownish-grey summer coat in late autumn to reveal a pure, snowy-white winter pelage with striking black-tipped ears.
Ecologically, Lepus townsendii is a foundational primary consumer and keystone herbivore of North America’s endangered temperate grassland ecosystems. By grazing heavily on native bunchgrasses, legumes, and winter sagebrush twigs, it prevents shrub encroachment and stimulates prairie botanical productivity. Simultaneously, it provides vital year-round sustenance for a diverse array of apex predators, serving as primary prey for golden eagles, ferruginous hawks, coyotes, bobcats, badgers, and endangered prairie falcons, anchoring open-country trophic food webs.
Biology and Physical Characteristics
Lepus townsendii possesses exceptional biomechanical adaptations designed for explosive speed, long-distance stamina, and evasion on flat, coverless prairie terrain. Its disproportionately long, heavily muscled hind legs function as biological catapults, enabling it to clear horizontal leaps of over five meters (16 feet) and vertical bounds of two meters (6.5 feet) in a single stride. When pursued, it reaches breathtaking sprint velocities of up to sixty-five kilometers per hour (40 mph). Its enormous, highly vascularized ears rotate independently through 180 degrees to triangulate the faint sounds of approaching aerial raptors or stalking carnivores while dissipating excess metabolic heat during hot summer days.
Behavior and Ecology
White-tailed jackrabbits are predominantly nocturnal and crepuscular, spending windy daylight hours resting quietly inside a ‘form’—a shallow depression scraped into the soil beneath tall prairie bunchgrasses or sagebrush. When approached by a predator, the jackrabbit relies first on perfect freeze crypsis, flattening its body and pinning its ears flat against its back. If the intruder crosses a critical threshold, the hare erupts into a violent zig-zag dash, flashing the stark white underside and topside of its tail to visually disorient the attacker. Unlike true rabbits that dig underground warrens, female jackrabbits give birth aboveground in simple grass nests to fully furred, open-eyed, precocial leverets.
Conservation and Human Impact
The White-tailed Jackrabbit is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its expansive geographic range across North America. However, regional populations have suffered dramatic, localized contractions, particularly in the agricultural Corn Belt and low-elevation valleys where intensive row-crop agriculture (corn, soy, wheat) has destroyed over ninety percent of native tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies. Furthermore, competitive displacement by the more human-tolerant black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) and fatal outbreaks of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV2) present serious regional management challenges.
Interesting Factoid
In a single bounding leap across the open prairie, a white-tailed jackrabbit can cover more than 5 meters (16 feet) of ground and leap over 2 meters (6.5 feet) high into the air to evade pursuing coyotes.