Black Tailed Jack Rabbit(Lepus californicus)
The Black Tailed Jack Rabbit is one of the wonders of the world. Here is a animal that can literally out run most predators, survive the hottest days & coldest nights. It can survive on the food that most animals pass up. Here is a animal that has very little breeding done and at the time of this article only 4 animals are registered in zoo’s. There are no recorded births over the last 6 months which is the normal breeding season. Here is a animal that I feel will hold the attention of any group as a educational animal. the normal size of the Jack Rabbit is up to 8-10 pounds. I personally have seen animals standing at the shoulder better than 20" and weighing well over 16 pounds. These extra large animals are only in one part of the state so it is my belief they are a separate subspecies not yet classified.
In all my research I have not found anyone who has had a captive litter of these fascinating animals. I got lucky this year and found a country person that not only raised the rabbits but had them running around with their cats just like pets. These are going to be the start of my breeding program. It is my sincere hope that starting out with captive raised animals will allow me to be the first to produce captive born, hand raised animals for the education & zoo world.
Can you picture a 10 to 16 pound Jack rabbit walking on a leash?
That in it’s self would be enough to stop traffic. A animal you can pick up and hold like a baby! The jack rabbits ears help cool the animal during the hottest days by allowing the heat in the blood to be cooled. The ears also gather heat during the night to warm the blood. There are "tricks" to keeping the jack rabbit in captivity so I feel there will "tricks in getting them to breed as well. I will be publishing this data as it becomes available.
