White-sided Jackrabbit

The white-sided jackrabbit is a medium-sized hare. Its adult body length ranges from roughly 17 to 24 inches (43 to 60 centimeters) long. Its short tail grows to lengths of 1 to 4 in (2.5 to 10.2 cm). Its legs grow from 4 to 6 in (10 to 15 cm) in the front and the back legs can grow from 6 to 12 in (15 to 30 cm) long. The white-sided jackrabbit's ears grow 2 to 6 in (5.1 to 15.2 cm) when fully grown. The fore paws have five toes while the back paws have four. All toes end in sturdy claws. Some sexual dimorphism is present in this species; females are generally larger than the males. Adults weigh between 3.3 and 5.1 pounds (1.5 and 2.3 kilograms). The white-sided jackrabbit's fur varies in color across its body. Along the back, it is a light ocherous cinnamon and black mixture, and along the sides, it is white. White fur also covers the hare's rump, thighs, and limbs. The tail is white underneath and black above. The hare's back fur has also been described as buff or fawn. The thighs and rump have also been described as more iron gray than white. Towards the head, there is a black or brown patch of fur at the nape (on the back of the neck). The same cinnamon and ochre fur color is seen around most of the head, though the eyes and ears are fringed with white. …

The white-sided jackrabbit is found from the south of New Mexico down to the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The hare's range extends throughout the central highlands of Mexico. It occurs alongside the black-tailed jackrabbit, as well as the antelope jackrabbit. L. callotis gaillardi is present in isolated regions throughout the species' northern distribution, occurring in New Mexico and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango. Two individuals from this subspecies were seen in Arizona in 1950 near the Huachuca Mountains, but the white-sided jackrabbit's continued presence in this state is uncertain. L. c. callotis is found in a region extending from eastern Durango to northern Guerrero and Oaxaca. One report in 2020 by Fuentes-Moreno and colleagues found evidence of the white-sided jackrabbit in the Oaxaca Valley, where it had not been seen for 116 years. L. c. gaillardi is generally associated with cooler habitats than those inhabited by L. c. callotis. The white-sided jackrabbit inhabits grasslands at elevations between 2,460 and 8,370 feet (750 and 2,550 m). They are found at their lowest elevations in the state of Morelos and at their highest in north Puebla. …

White-sided jackrabbits are most active during the night or at dusk. They are less active when faced with wind, cloud cover and precipitation. They have a unique escape behavior consisting of alternately flashing its white sides to potential predators when running away. When escaping, they also make long, high leaps, jumping straight up and extending their hind legs. They may also choose to remain still to avoid detection rather than immediately hopping away, and have also been seen trying to escape through dense grasses. A conspicuous trait of the white-sided jackrabbit is its tendency to be found in pairs. Male and female jackrabbits will form a pair bond that is strongest during the breeding season (April–October). After establishment of the pair bond, the male defends the pair from other intruding males, and the two remain within a roughly 16-foot (5 m) radius. The white-sided jackrabbit constructs and uses depressions in the ground for shelter, known as forms. This behavior is common among hares, but forms made by the white-sided jackrabbit are notably more elaborate than most, averaging 15 in (37 cm) in length, 7.1 in (18 cm) in width, and 2.4 in (6 cm) in depth. Forms are often dug in areas surrounded by dense grasses and occasionally extend below the surface of the soil. …

The white-sided jackrabbit was first described in 1830 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler. He gave it the scientific name Lepus callotis and noted that it was smaller than the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) but had longer ears. The species' type locality was given as simply "Mexico"; this was clarified as the southern end of the Mexican Plateau by American naturalist Edward William Nelson in 1909. Nothing is known about the white-sided jackrabbit's holotype. Its genus name, Lepus, is Latin for 'hare'. The species name, callotis, is derived from Greek, being a combination of the words call, 'beautiful', and ot, 'ear'. Common names for this species include the beautiful-eared jackrabbit, Gaillard jackrabbit (referring to the subspecies Lepus calloris gaillardi), snow sides, and in Spanish, liebre torda, liebre pinta, or liebre de flancos blancos. There are two recognized subspecies of the white-sided jackrabbit:

Lepus callotis callotis Wagler, 1830. Synonymous with Lepus mexicanus (Lichtenstein, 1830) and Lepus nigricaudatus (Bennett, 1833). Lepus callotis gaillardi Mearns, 1895. Type specimen collected along the Mexico–United States border in the Playas Valley by Edgar Alexander Mearns; synonymous with Lepus battyi (J. Allen, 1903). The subspecies L. c. …