Black-tailed jackrabbit
Amazing fact
Black-tailed jackrabbit babies are born with fur and their eyes open.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Black-tailed jackrabbit babies are born with fur and their eyes open.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Black-tailed jackrabbit
- Scientific name
- Lepus californicus
- Japanese name
- オグロジャックウサギ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Lagomorpha
- Family
- Leporidae
- Genus
- Lepus
Where the name “Black-tailed jackrabbit” comes from
The English name “jackrabbit” is shortened from “jackass rabbit,” a name inspired by its long ears.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebIt lives in dry scrubland, prairies, farmland and dunes from the southwestern United States into Mexico.
A true hare with long ears and legs. It has a black stripe down the middle of its back, and the top of its tail is black.
It mainly eats grasses. It needs little water and gets nearly all the water it needs from the plants it eats.
How the Black-tailed jackrabbit lives
It is mainly active at night. When other plants are unavailable, it mainly eats twigs and young bark. It rests under bushes by day and digs shallow hollows in the ground to lie in. When flushed from cover, it escapes by running in a zigzag.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 47–63 cm
- Weight
- 1.3–3.1 kg
- Diet
- Grasses, herbaceous plants, twigs and young bark
- Range
- Southwestern United States into Mexico, and elsewhere
Where the Black-tailed jackrabbit has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- オグロジャックウサギ
- 简体中文
- 黑尾长耳大野兔
- 繁體中文
- 黑尾長耳大野兔
- 한국어
- 캘리포니아멧토끼
- Español
- Liebre de California
- Français
- Lièvre de Californie
- Deutsch
- Eselhase
- Português (Brasil)
- Lebre-da-califórnia
- Italiano
- Lepre californiana
- العربية
- الأرنبوس أسود الذيل
- Русский
- Чернохвостый заяц
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Lepus californicusChecked: 2026-11-04
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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