Nebraska sits at the eastern edge of the black-tailed jackrabbit’s range, and its 76 records scatter across 28 counties of plain and prairie, from Butler County in the east to Kimball County at the Wyoming line. The heaviest sign comes from the open west, the shortgrass and sand sage country around Scotts Bluff National Monument, Chimney Rock National Historic Site, and Oglala National Grassland.
Built for open ground
A jackrabbit is a hare, not a rabbit. It does not burrow, resting instead in a shallow form scratched out beneath grass or low shrubs and trusting eyesight, hearing, and speed to keep it safe. Its enormous ears do double duty, catching sound and shedding body heat on a shadeless plain, and its diet of grasses, forbs, and shrubs lets it live where cover runs little more than knee-high.
Abroad in every season
Black-tailed jackrabbits neither hibernate nor migrate, and the record shows them abroad in every season. Counts climb to a July peak as the year’s young begin foraging on their own, then rise again in November and December, when summer cover is down and a big hare stands out against stubble and dormant grass.
Status in Nebraska
NatureServe ranks the black-tailed jackrabbit S5, Secure, in Nebraska, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
