Lepus californicus

The black-tailed jackrabbit, also known as the American desert hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level up to 10,000 ft (3,000 m). Reaching a length around 2 ft (61 cm), and a weight from 3 to 6 lb, the black-tailed jackrabbit is one of the largest North American hares. Black-tailed jackrabbits occupy mixed shrub-grassland terrains. Their breeding depends on the location; it typically peaks in spring, but may continue all year round in warm climates. Young are born fully furred with eyes open; they are well camouflaged and are mobile within minutes of birth, thus females do not protect or even stay with the young except during nursing. The average litter size is around four, but may be as low as two and as high as seven in warm regions.

Lepus californicus

Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
black-tailed jackrabbitPBDB
Sits inside
LepusPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Leporidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Leporidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 1 of 19 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 17 of 19 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 19 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.8 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

19 occurrences of Lepus californicus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

19 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Crooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WLong Pine — 42.38°N, 98.23°WTacubaya — 21.80°N, 102.30°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°WOcotillo — 32.90°N, 117.10°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lepus californicus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 14 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lepus californicus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lepus californicus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

469 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Lepus californicus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

17 references

Each of the 19 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 5 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Lepus californicus

Credit
Chuck Homler d/b/a Focus On Wildlife
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lepus californicus californicus · LACM:Mammals:37039

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLepus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1837