Jackalope

Region: Western North America

Lead Investigator: Agent 40

Last Updated: 16 May 2024

Lepus antilocapra, Lepus cornutus
Thought to be inspired by sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus

Identification:

Too fast to catch
Able to be lured with whiskey
Can imitate the human voice, "during the days of the Old West, when cowboys gathered by the campfires singing at night, jackalopes could be heard mimicking their voices"
Can only breed during lightning flashes, and their antlers usually "get in the way" (which is why there are so few of them)

1932: Hunters and occasional taxidermists, Douglas and Ralph Herrick, put deer antlers on a jackrabbit and sold it to a local hotel in Wyoming, where it gained popularity. They then made tens of thousands more to sell.
1980s: Frank English has made thousands of jackalopes in South Dakota

1917: "J. H. B. Mathenia... was here Monday and showed us the horns he took from a rabbit he killed that day. The horns measured nine inches long and were curved much like that of a steer. He said when he removed the horns he took them from between the ears, and that they protruded about one and one-half inches on each side. We examined them thoroly [sic] and they are genuine in every detail. This is quite a rare think and the first one of the kind we have ever known of." The Hayti Herald
1922: "Local hunters are oiling their guns in preparation for a big rabbit hunt following the shooting of a rabbit on whose head was a pair of well-defined horns. A few days previous another rabbit had been shot by a couple of out-of town hunters who claimed that their trophy also had real horns, altho [sic] not quite so well defined as in the case of the second rabbit... According to scientists such species of rabbit do exist, but they are very rare. This is the first time, as far as can be learned, that any have been been in this section. The hunters who killed the horned rabbit are going to have the head mounted and will then probably present it to some museum." The Seattle Star