Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Genus: Lepus
Species: californicus

Black-tailed jackrabbit

Range and Distribution

Reproduction

Habitat

Human/Economic Values

Current Management Status

Literature Cited

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Author: Thomas Peebles IV

Site created by: Rachael McCormick

Site Maintained by: Dr. Mark Wallace

c7wmc@ttacs.ttu.edu

The jackrabbit, considered a non-game animal in Texas (TPWD 1999), is a very important prey for raptors and other predators (Knick 1997). A wide variety of predators including hawks, owls, coyotes (Canis latrans) and badgers (Taxidea taxus) take them (Clarke 1987). In southwestern Idaho, the black-tailed jackrabbit supports one of the largest densities of nesting raptors in the world (Knick 1997). Black-tailed jackrabbits have cyclic populations with population crashes every 9-10 years (Ballenger 2000).

Jackrabbits are often held responsible for vegetation depletion of ranges (Robinson 1989). They are associated with the early stages of succession in grassland ecosystems, therefore, large populations of jackrabbits may be a result of overgrazing rather than the cause of range depletion (Robinson 1989). Jackrabbits prefer grass - shrub habitats more than shrubland or grassland habitats, suggesting that maintaining ranges in good to excellent condition is possibly the best means of managing jackrabbit numbers (Daniel 1993). Jackrabbit control may require little more than better management of grazing livestock (Robinson 1989).