The great American jackalope

The jackalope (Lepus temperamentalus) is a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope (or sometimes a goat or deer), and is usually portrayed as a rabbit with antlers. It is also called an antelabbit, horny bunny or stagbunny.

Some "propose" that it is a hybrid of the pygmy-deer and a species of killer-rabbit. Reportedly, Jackalopes are extremely shy unless approached. It has also been said that the Jackalope can convincingly imitate any sound, including the human voice. It uses this ability to elude pursuers. No Jackalopes have ever been captured alive.

History

The jackalope legend in the U.S. is attributed by the New York Times to Douglas Herrick (1920-2003) of Douglas, Wyoming, in 1932. Postcards showing jackalopes were also sold in the U.S. in the 1930s. Horned rabbits abound in European and, particularly, German and Austrian, legends as the raurackl, rasselbock and wolpertinger. All of these legends are probably inspired by rabbits infected with a virus (Shope papillomavirus) which causes hornlike growths in various places on their heads and other parts of the body. The many illustrations of horned hares shown in scholarly works by European naturalists in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries (engraved plates for the Encyclopédie Méthodique, 1789, for example), were probably similarly inspired.

Humor

Mounted jackalope

In the American West mounted heads, and postcards of jackalopes are a popular item in some novelty stores. Jackalope legends are sometimes used by locals to play tricks on tourists. This joke was employed by Ronald Reagan to reporters in 1980 during a tour of his California ranch. Reagan had a rabbit head with antlers, which he referred to as a "jackalope," mounted on his wall. Reagan liked to claim that he had caught the animal himself. Reagan's jackalope hangs on the ranch's wall to this day.

Pop culture

A jackalope character was featured in the U.S. television show America's Funniest People, where it would laugh a lot while playing mean tricks on people. It was also featured on the very first Nickelodeon show Out of Control which was also hosted by Dave Coulier.

The comic strip Bloom County had as one of its characters Rosebud the Basselope, a cross between a basset hound and an antelope.

Science fiction and fantasy writer Alan Dean Foster wrote a short story titled Jackalope, in which his Mad Amos character served as a guide for a big game hunter, on an unsuccessful hunting expedition for the beast. They encountered jackalopes, as well as the beasts who prey upon them.

A Canadian industrial rock band has also named itself for the animal, although the band spells its name Jakalope.

French musician Toog released the song "The Wild Jackalope" on his 2002 album Easy Toog for Beginners.

Pixar Animation Studios created a short film, "Boundin'," that features a wise, nameless jackalope as a main character. This short precedes the showing of the 2004 film The Incredibles.

External links, resources, references

• For all your Jackalope needs
• Origins of the Jackalope
• The Jackalope : Museum of Hoaxes
• Jackalope fans : Prof. Chuck Holliday
• The Jackalope Conspiracy
• The Legend Of The Jackalope
• Jackalopes!
• Jackalope : Douglas, Wyoming
• Home of Everything Jackalope
• http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/jacksforreal.html : pictures of papillomavirus rabbits
• Cenotaph of the Jackalope