Or one leads your bird dog off on a merry and futile chase when the dog was supposed to be hunting quail. Well anything can be troublesome if they get too numerous, including people. Still, I mark the jackrabbit down as a neat critter, uniquely talented and interesting, even if they are common as dog tracks. First of all, despite the name, jackrabbits aren't rabbits at all, they're hares. The gestation period of a rabbit is about 30 days.
Hares hold their young seven to ten days longer.
And where rabbit young are born bald, blind, and helpless, a just-born hare is already in fur, with eyes open, and the little leveret can hop around. Flushed by a coyote , fox, greyhound, or eagle, a hare will attempt to outrun rather than hide from a predator. By any or all of the above determinants, the jackrabbit is a hare. There are four species of jackrabbit in North America, three of which reside in New Mexico . The most common, and the one we see around here, is the blacktail jackrabbit.