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Black-tailed Jackrabbit
Habitat:
The Black-tailed Jackrabbit occurs in grasslands and open range across North America. In the United States its distribution spreads from California to Florida and from Montana to Texas. It is found throughout the scrub brush of the Great Basin.
Keys to Survival — Adaptations and Characteristics:
What's to Eat?
The Black-tailed Jackrabbit's physiology allows it to utilize nearly every green plant in its range. Jackrabbits have sharp incisors that grow continually and thereby counter the effect of nibbling on so many plants. They also have grinding molars.
For rabbits, meeting nutritional needs requires an unsavory behavioral adaptation. Coprophagy; the process of reingesting food that has already passed through the animal, gives the jackrabbit's digestive system a second chance at extracting nutrition from the indigestible cellulose of its diet.
Which way did he go?
The dusty colored fur of the Black-tailed Jackrabbit gives it a dull but effective camouflage. By sitting still it can virtually disappear into the sagebrush grasslands of the Great Basin.
Man it's hot!
On hot desert days its large ears provide thermoregulatory control for the jackrabbit. As hot blood from the body flows into the ears it is dispersed into many small veins. The process is magnified if the jackrabbit uses the slightly cooler air in the shade of a clump of scrub brush to increase the convective cooling of the blood in its ears.
Track Shoes:
The jackrabbits front feet have fives clawed toes and thick brushy hairs on the bottom of the front feet. This provides traction and shock absorption. The hind feet are long and have 4 toes.
The Get Away:
The Black-tailed Jackrabbit can run as fast a 35-40 mph. In a full run it can hop up to 20 feet, making it a challenge for predators, like the coyote, cougar, fox, snakes, and birds of prey, to catch.