Jackalope

Jackalope is a portmanteau of jackrabbit and antelope.

Jackrabbits are actually hares, rather than rabbits, though both are mammals in the family Leporidae. Wyoming is home to three species of hares, all in the genus Lepus. These are the black-tailed jackrabbit, the white-tailed jackrabbit, and the snowshoe hare.{{cite web|last=Lewis |first=Dan |author-link=|title=Wyoming Wildlife – The Hares, Rabbits & Pikas!|url=http://wyomingnaturalist.com/mammals_lagomorphs.html|year=2014|access-date=2015-02-01|archive-date=2015-01-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150131104401/http://wyomingnaturalist.com/mammals_lagomorphs.html|url-status=live}}

The nominal antelope is not any kind of true, Old World antelope, but actually the pronghorn or American antelope (Antilocapra americana), which is more closely related to the giraffe.{{cite journal|last=Caton |first=J. D. |author-link=John D. Caton |year=1876|title=The American Antelope, or Prong Buck|journal=The American Naturalist|volume=10|issue=4|pages=193–205|jstor=2448724|doi=10.1086/271628|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1431315|doi-access=free|access-date=2019-09-06|archive-date=2020-08-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802001243/https://zenodo.org/record/1431315|url-status=live}}

Some of the largest herds of wild pronghorns, which are found only in western North America, are in Wyoming. The adults grow to about {{convert|3|ft|m|0}} tall, weigh up to {{convert|150|lb|kg}}, and can run at sustained speeds approaching {{convert|60|mph|km/h}}.{{cite web|title=Pronghorn|publisher=National Wildlife Federation|url=http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wildlife-library/mammals/pronghorn.aspx|year=2015|access-date=2015-02-01|archive-date=2015-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202011920/http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wildlife-library/mammals/pronghorn.aspx|url-status=live}}

File:Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra) Plate XLVII.jpg, circa 1575, showing a "horned hare"]]

Stories or descriptions of animal hybrids have appeared in many cultures worldwide. A 13th-century Persian work depicts a rabbit with a single horn, like a unicorn.{{cite magazine|last=Simon |first=Matt |author-link=|title=Fantastically Wrong: The Disturbing Reality That Spawned the Mythical Jackalope |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/05/fantastically-wrong-jackalope/ |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast |date=2014-05-14 |access-date=2015-02-03 |archive-date=2015-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203192452/http://www.wired.com/2014/05/fantastically-wrong-jackalope/ |url-status=live}} In Europe, the horned rabbit appeared in Medieval and Renaissance folklore in Bavaria (the wolpertinger) and elsewhere. Natural history texts such as Historiae Naturalis de Quadrupetibus Libri (The History Book of Natural Quadrupeds) by Joannes Jonstonus (John Jonston) in the 17th century and illustrations such as Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra): Plate XLVII by Joris Hoefnagel (1522–1600) in the 16th century{{cite web|last=Hoefnagel |first=Joris|author-link=Joris Hoefnagel |title=Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra): Plate XLVII|url=http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.69793.html|publisher=National Gallery of Art|year=2014|access-date=2015-02-07}} included the horned hare. These early scientific texts described and illustrated the hybrids as though they were real creatures, but by the end of the 18th century scientists generally rejected the idea of horned hares as a biological species.{{cite web|last=Jemison |first=Michaela |author-link= |title=The World's Scariest Rabbit Lurks Within the Smithsonian's Collection|url=http://smithsonianscience.org/2014/10/worlds-scariest-rabbit-lurks-within-smithsonians-collection/|work=Smithsonian Science|date=2014-10-31|access-date=2015-02-01|archive-date=2015-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201201326/http://smithsonianscience.org/2014/10/worlds-scariest-rabbit-lurks-within-smithsonians-collection/|url-status=live}}

File:Rabbit shopes papilloma virus 3.jpg infection]]

References to horned rabbits may originate in sightings of rabbits affected by the Shope papilloma virus, named for Richard E. Shope, M.D., who described it in a scientific journal in 1933.{{cite journal|author1=Shope, Richard E. |author2=Hurst, E. Weston |title=Infectious Papillomatosis of Rabbits: with a Note on the Histopathology |journal=Journal of Experimental Medicine |volume=58 |issue=5 |pages=607–24 |year=1933 |pmid=19870219 |pmc=2132321 |doi=10.1084/jem.58.5.607|publisher=Rockefeller University Press}} Shope initially examined wild cottontail rabbits that had been shot by hunters in Iowa and later examined wild rabbits from Kansas. They had "numerous horn-like protuberances on the skin over various parts of their bodies. The animals were referred to popularly as 'horned' or 'warty' rabbits." Legends about horned rabbits also occur in Asia and Africa as well as Europe, and researchers suspect the changes induced by the virus might underlie at least some of those tales.{{cite news|last=Rife |first=Susan L.|author-link= |title= The Evolution of the Jackalope Exhibit Explores Facts Behind Hoax| newspaper=The Wichita Eagle|location=Wichita, Kansas|edition=City|page=1C|date=1990-08-11}}

In Central America, mythological references to a horned rabbit creature can be found in Huichol legends. The Huichol oral tradition has passed down tales of a horned rabbit and of the deer getting horns from the rabbit.{{cite book|last1=Furst|first1=Peter T. |author1-link= |last2=Schaefer |first2=Stacy B. |author2-link=|title=People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian History, Religion & Survival|date=1998|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque|isbn=978-0-8263-1905-0|pages=15, 130, 135|edition=1st paperbound|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_v77k1slksC}} The rabbit and deer were paired, though not combined as a hybrid, as day signs in the calendar of the Mesoamerican period of the Aztecs,{{cite web|last=Marchesi |first=Robin |author-link= |title=Esoteric Hares|date=2009-05-10|url=http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/hare-vs-rabbit-in-mythology|via=Mexicolore|work=Codex Borgia|pages= 8, 33|access-date=2015-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150727002624/http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/hare-vs-rabbit-in-mythology|archive-date=2015-07-27|url-status=live}} as twins, brothers, even the sun and moon.{{cite journal|last=Furst |first=J. L. |author-link= |title=Horned Rabbit: Natural History and Myth in West Mexico|journal=Journal of Latin American Lore|volume=15|number=1|date=1989|pages=137–49}}

The New York Times attributes the American jackalope's origin to a 1932 hunting outing involving Douglas Herrick (1920–2003) of Douglas, Wyoming.{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |author-link=|date=2003-01-19 |title=Douglas Herrick, 82, Dies |page=23 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/19/us/douglas-herrick-82-dies-father-of-west-s-jackalope.html |access-date=2011-11-17 |archive-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403021932/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/19/us/douglas-herrick-82-dies-father-of-west-s-jackalope.html |url-status=live }} Herrick and his brother had studied taxidermy by mail order as teenagers, and when the brothers returned from a hunting trip for jackrabbits, Herrick tossed a carcass into the taxidermy store, where it came to rest beside a pair of deer antlers. The accidental combination of animal forms sparked Herrick's idea for a jackalope.{{Cite web |date=2008 |title=The Origin of the Jackalope |url=http://www.jackalope.org/Douglas/DouglasJackalope.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513034111/http://www.jackalope.org/Douglas/DouglasJackalope.html |archive-date=2008-05-13 |access-date=2014-06-16 |website=Douglas [Wyoming] Chamber of Commerce}} The first jackalope the brothers put together was sold for $10 to Roy Ball, who displayed it in Douglas' La Bonte Hotel. The mounted head was stolen in 1977.{{Cite web |last=Oliver |first=Myrna |author-link= |date=2008-11-06 |title=Douglas Herrick, 82; on a Whim He Created 'Jackalope' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-23-me-herrick23-story.html |access-date=2011-11-17 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |archive-date=2012-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011094723/http://articles.latimes.com/2003/jan/23/local/me-herrick23 |url-status=live }} The jackalope became a popular local attraction in Douglas, where the Chamber of Commerce issues Jackalope Hunting Licenses to tourists. The tags are good for hunting during official jackalope season, which occurs for only one day: June 31 (a nonexistent date as June has 30 days), from midnight to 2 a.m. The hunter must have an IQ greater than 50 but not over 72. Thousands of "licenses" have been issued. In Herrick's home town of Douglas, there is an {{convert|8|ft|m|adj=on}} statue of a jackalope, and the town hosts an annual Jackalope Days Celebration in early June.{{Cite web |title=Jackalope Days |url=http://www.cityofdouglas.org/index.aspx?NID=156 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204092201/http://www.cityofdouglas.org/index.aspx?NID=156 |archive-date=2015-02-04 |access-date=2015-01-26 |publisher=City of Douglas}}

Building on the Herrick's success, Frank English of Rapid City, South Dakota has made and sold many thousands of jackalopes since retiring from the Air Force in 1981. He is the only supplier of the altered animal heads to Cabela's, a major outdoor-theme retail company. His standard jackalopes and "world-record" jackalopes sell for about $150.{{Cite news |last=Tupper, Seth |date=2015-01-19 |title=Jackalope Sightings Abound in Rapid Valley |work=Rapid City Journal |location=Rapid City, South Dakota |url=http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/jackalope-sightings-abound-in-rapid-valley/article_f21cf53d-4ef3-51ee-8a4b-88ed3036904f.html |access-date=2015-01-31 |archive-date=2015-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123093934/http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/jackalope-sightings-abound-in-rapid-valley/article_f21cf53d-4ef3-51ee-8a4b-88ed3036904f.html |url-status=live }}

In Man and Beast in American Comic Legend, folklorist Richard Dorson recounts the Douglas variant but also an alternative that will "surely infuriate the residents of Douglas...". According to Dorson, in Mythical Creatures of the North Country (1969), historian Walker D. Wyman acknowledged the existence of what he called the Alkali Area Jackalope of the western United States. However, he expressed doubt that it predated the Jack-pine Jackalope of Minnesota and Wisconsin, "a mythological throwback that defies even the most competent biologists of the region." Wyman claimed there were three known specimens of this primary jackalope—in Augusta in west-central Wisconsin; Cornucopia, along the south shore of Lake Superior; and in a north shore museum and lumber camp— all "presumably shot by careless hunters during the deer season."{{Cite book |last=Dorson |first=Richard M. |author-link=Richard M. Dorson |url=https://archive.org/details/manbeastinameric00rich/page/50 |title=Man and Beast in American Comic Legend |date=1982 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-33665-1 |location=Bloomington |pages=[https://archive.org/details/manbeastinameric00rich/page/50 50–54] |url-access=registration}}

In a 1978 revision and expansion of his book, which includes material on the rubberado porcupine, the snoligoster, the three-tailed bavalorus, the squonk, and many other creatures, Wyman devotes four pages to the jackalope. In a turnabout from his earlier claims of a North Country origin for the antlered hare, he says, "The center of its vast range seems to be Wyoming." Evidence of wide dispersal of Lepus antilocapra wyomingensis from its original range, he claims, are labels such as "Tioga, Pennsylvania," and "Hongkong" stamped on mounted jackalope heads in barrooms across the United States.{{Cite book |last1=Wyman |first1=Walker D. |author1-link= |others=Illustrated by Helen B. Wyman |title=Mythical Creatures of the U.S.A. and Canada: A Roundup of the Mythical Snakes and Worms, Insects, Birds, Fish, Serpents, and Mermaids, Animals and Monsters That Have Roamed the American Land |publisher=University of Wisconsin – River Falls Press |year=1978 |location=Park Falls, Wisconsin |pages=71–73 |oclc=4603381}}

The jackalope is subject to many outlandish and largely tongue-in-cheek claims embedded in tall tales about its habits. Jackalopes are said to be so dangerous that hunters are advised to wear stovepipes on their legs to keep from being gored.{{sfnp|Branch|2022|loc=PT32}} Stores in Douglas sell jackalope doe milk, but The New York Times questions its authenticity on grounds that milking a jackalope is known to be fraught with risk.{{sfnp|Branch|2022|loc=PT31}} One of the ways to catch a jackalope is to entice it with whiskey, the jackalope's beverage of choice.{{sfnp|Branch|2022|loc=PT31–PT32}}{{cite journal|last=Coats |first=Karen |author-link=|title=Ghost Knight |journal=Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books |publisher=University of Illinois |volume=65 |issue=10 |date=June 2012 |pages=509–10 |doi=10.1353/bcc.2012.0489 |s2cid=144605628}}

The jackalope can imitate the human voice, according to legend. During the days of the Old West, when cowboys gathered by the campfires singing at night, jackalopes could be heard mimicking their voices or singing along, usually as a tenor. It is credited with being able to "throw its voice", and mimic the calls and cries of many mammals, even a chainsaw.{{sfnp|Branch|2022|loc=PT32}} It is said that jackalopes, the rare Lepus antilocapra, breed only during lightning flashes and that their antlers make the act difficult despite the hare's reputation for fertility.{{cite news|last=Noel |first=Tom |author-link= |title=Jackalope Legend Still Traps Interest|newspaper=Rocky Mountain News|date=2003-02-08|location=Denver, Colorado|page=9D}} Even the ordinary jackalope only mates during lightning storms, such breeding habits accounting for their scarcity.{{sfnp|Branch|2022|loc=PT31}}

In 2005, the legislature of Wyoming considered a bill to make the jackalope the state's official mythological creature.{{cite web |url=https://wyoleg.gov/2005/digest/hb0004.htm |title=H.B. No. 0004: Jackalope – Official Mythical Creature |publisher=State of Wyoming Legislature |date=2005 |access-date=2014-07-12 |archive-date=2015-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214080532/http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2005/digest/hb0004.htm |url-status=live }} It passed the House by a 45–12 margin, but the session ended before the Senate could take up the bill, which died. In 2013, following the death of the bill's sponsor, Dave Edwards, the state legislature reintroduced the bill.{{cite news|last=Hancock |first=Laura |author-link=|url=http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-lawmakers-consider-declaring-jackalope-state-s-official-mythical-creature/article_3c49017f-1bfd-5c07-a9cd-c7fb707b210e.html|title=Wyoming Lawmakers Consider Declaring Jackalope State's Official Mythical Creature|newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune|location=Casper, Wyoming|date=2013-01-12|access-date=2014-03-14|archive-date=2014-05-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531012558/http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-lawmakers-consider-declaring-jackalope-state-s-official-mythical-creature/article_3c49017f-1bfd-5c07-a9cd-c7fb707b210e.html|url-status=live}} It again passed the House but died in the rules committee of the Senate.{{cite news |url=http://trib.com/house-bill/article_69ae9623-d1a1-5a7a-9b2f-c5fa9b6bde17.html |title=House Bill 149 |newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune |date=2013-02-26 |access-date=2014-03-14 |archive-date=2014-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531012532/http://trib.com/house-bill/article_69ae9623-d1a1-5a7a-9b2f-c5fa9b6bde17.html |url-status=live }} In 2015, three state representatives put forth the jackalope proposal again, this time as House Bill 66,{{cite news|last=Hancock |first=Laura |author-link= |title=Legislator Brings Back Jackalope Bill for Wyoming Mythical Creature |newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune|url=http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/legislator-brings-back-jackalope-bill-for-wyoming-mythical-creature/article_f7344984-2012-587d-bb3b-590dda5e9e01.html|date=2015-01-09|access-date=2015-01-30|archive-date=2015-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112022602/http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/legislator-brings-back-jackalope-bill-for-wyoming-mythical-creature/article_f7344984-2012-587d-bb3b-590dda5e9e01.html|url-status=live}} and again it passed the House but died in a Senate committee.{{cite web|title=Digest – H.B. No. 0066 State Legendary Critter|url=https://wyoleg.gov/2015/Digest/HB0066.pdf|publisher=State of Wyoming|access-date=September 15, 2015}} One of the co-sponsors, Dan Zwonitzer, said, "I’ll keep bringing it back until it passes."

In 2014, the Wyoming Lottery adopted a jackalope logo for its lottery tickets and marketing materials. Lottery officials chose the fictitious animal, which they named YoLo, over the bucking horse and other state symbols.{{cite news|last=Roerink |first=Kyle |author-link= |title= Wyoming Lottery Unveils Logo |url= http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming-lottery-unveils-logo/article_63f99eaa-e79b-54ff-aa5e-3a8669f1a8b2.html |newspaper= Casper Star-Tribune |date= 2014-01-30 |access-date= 2015-01-30 |archive-date= 2019-05-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190530182705/https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming-lottery-unveils-logo/article_63f99eaa-e79b-54ff-aa5e-3a8669f1a8b2.html |url-status= live }}

File:Wall drug jackalope.jpg in South Dakota.]]

Since Herrick and his brother began selling manipulated taxidermy heads in the 1930s, such trophies, as well as jackalope postcards and related gift-shop items, can be found in many places beyond Douglas.{{cite web |title= Legend of the Jackalope |url= http://www.cityofdouglas.org/DocumentCenter/View/105 |publisher= City of Douglas |format= PDF |access-date= 2015-01-26 |archive-date= 2016-03-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222136/http://www.cityofdouglas.org/DocumentCenter/View/105 |url-status= live }} The student magazine of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design in New Mexico is called The Jackalope.{{cite web |title= About |url= http://jackalopemagazine.com/about-8/ |publisher= Jackalope Magazine |year= 2015 |access-date= 2015-01-24 |archive-date= 2015-01-28 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150128114612/http://jackalopemagazine.com/about-8/ |url-status= live }} On the other side of the world, The Hop Factory craft beer cafe in Newcastle, Australia, uses a leaping jackalope as its logo.{{cite journal |last=Weber |first=Max |author-link= |url= http://www.beerandbrewer.com/_blog/News/post/new-craft-beer-digs-in-newcastle/ |title= New Craft Beer Digs in Newcastle |journal= Beer & Brewer |date= 2013-08-20 |access-date= 2014-03-14 |archive-date= 2014-03-14 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140314210836/http://www.beerandbrewer.com/_blog/News/post/new-craft-beer-digs-in-newcastle/ |url-status= live }} In 1986, James Abdnor, a senator from South Dakota, gave U.S. president Ronald Reagan a stuffed jackalope (rabbit head with antlers) during a presidential campaign stop in Rapid City.{{cite news |title= President Takes Campaign Westward |newspaper= The Dispatch |location= Lexington, North Carolina |date= 1986-10-30 |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2VIcAAAAIBAJ&pg=7017,7684015&dq=reagan+jackalope&hl=en |page= 24 |access-date= 2015-01-26 |archive-date= 2021-02-24 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210224160010/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2VIcAAAAIBAJ&pg=7017,7684015&dq=reagan+jackalope&hl=en |url-status= live }}

Many books, including a large number written for children, feature the jackalope. A search for "jackalope" in the WorldCat listings of early 2015 produced 225 hits, including 57 for books.{{cite web |title=Search jackalope |url=https://www.worldcat.org/account/?page=searchItems |work=WorldCat |publisher=OCLC Online Computer Library Center |year=2015 |access-date=2015-01-26 |archive-date=2007-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922180208/https://www.worldcat.org/account/?page=searchItems |url-status=live }} Among them is Juan and the Jackalope: A Children's Book in Verse by Rudolfo Anaya. The WorldCat summary of Anaya's book says: "Competing for the hand of the lovely Rosita and her rhubarb pie, Juan rides a Jackalope in a race against Pecos Bill."{{cite book|title=Juan and the Jackalope: A Children's Book in Verse|publisher=OCLC Online Computer Library Center|oclc=298112168}} A short story, "Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon, has been nominated for a 2014 Nebula Award.{{cite journal|title=2014 Nebula Awards Ballot Announced|journal=Locus Online|date=20 February 2015|url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/02/2014-nebula-awards-ballot/|publisher=Locus Publications|access-date=2015-02-23|archive-date=2015-02-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223055116/http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/02/2014-nebula-awards-ballot|url-status=live}}

The psychonaut Terence McKenna claimed to have encountered a jackalope in the gardens of the Esalen Institute.{{Cite web |title=The Jackalope - Terence McKenna | website=YouTube | date=14 September 2016 |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=E7wITcn0StM}}

Musicians have used the jackalope in various ways. R. Carlos Nakai, a Native American flute player, formerly belonged to a group called Jackalope. In the late 1980s, it performed what Nakai called "synthacousticpunkarachiNavajazz", which combined "improvisation, visual art, storytelling, dance and dramatic theatrical effects."{{cite journal|last=Conlon |first=Paula |author-link= |title=The Native American Flute: Convergence and Collaboration as Exemplified by R. Carlos Nakai|journal=The World of Music|volume=52|number=1/3|year=2010|page=125}} Nakai said he wanted people to dream as they listened to the music. Jakalope is a Canadian alternative pop/rock group formed in 2003 by Dave "Rave" Ogilvie.{{cite web |url=http://www.last.fm/music/Jakalope |title=Jakalope |publisher=CBS Interactive |date=2015 |access-date=2015-02-07 |archive-date=2015-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309183126/http://www.last.fm/music/Jakalope |url-status=live }}{{cite web|title=Jakalope|url=https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=jakalope|work=WorldCat|publisher=OCLC Online Computer Library Center|access-date=2015-02-07|archive-date=2019-05-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530173324/https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=jakalope|url-status=live}} The band Miike Snow uses the jackalope as its logo. Band member Andrew Wyatt said during an interview in 2012 that the logo was meant to signify experiment and adventure.{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/miike-snow|title=Putting the I's in Miike Snow|last=Madison |first=Lucy |author-link= |work=Interview|date=23 June 2009|access-date=2012-11-25|archive-date=2012-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015012532/http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/miike-snow|url-status=live}} Of the 225 Worldcat hits resulting from a search for "jackalope", 95 were related to music.

Jackalopes have appeared in movies and on television. In the 1990s, a jackalope named "Jack Ching Bada Bing" was a recurring character in a series of sketches on the television shows America's Funniest Home Videos and America's Funniest People. The show's host, Dave Coulier, voiced the rascally hybrid.{{cite journal|last=Ryan |first=Mike |author-link= |title=Hollywood Hybrids: The Best Chimeras on the Big (and Small) Screen |journal=Popular Mechanics |url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/visual-effects/hollywoods-best-and-worst-chimeras|publisher=Hearst Communication|date=2010-09-22|access-date=2015-01-26|archive-date=2015-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202215204/http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/visual-effects/hollywoods-best-and-worst-chimeras|url-status=live}} In 2003,{{cite web|title=Boundin'|publisher=IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395479/|access-date=2015-01-26|archive-date=2015-01-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108163657/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395479/|url-status=live}} Pixar featured a jackalope in the short animation Boundin'. The jackalope gave helpful advice to a lamb who was feeling sad after being shorn.{{cite web |url=http://www.pixar.com/short_films/Theatrical-Shorts/Boundin%27 |title=Boundin' |publisher=Pixar |access-date=2014-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330194001/http://www.pixar.com/short_films/Theatrical-Shorts/Boundin%27 |archive-date=2014-03-30 }} In the Star Trek universe, the "bunnicorn" of Planet Nepenthe resembles a jackalope, and can be briefly seen in the seventh episode of Star Trek: Picard season one, released in 2020.

Jackalopes have appeared in video games. In Red Dead Redemption, the player is able to hunt and skin jackalopes.{{cite web|title=Free Hunting and Trading Outfit Packs for Red Dead Redemption Coming October 12th|url=http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/9901/free-hunting-and-trading-outfits-pack-for-red-dead-redemption-co.html|publisher=Rockstar Newswire|date=2010-10-05|access-date=2015-01-25|archive-date=2014-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006125201/http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/9901/free-hunting-and-trading-outfits-pack-for-red-dead-redemption-co.html|url-status=live}} Jackalopes are part of the action in Guild Wars 2.{{cite web|title=Guild Wars 2: Impressions|url=http://www.gamematics.net/guild-wars-2-impressions/|publisher=Gamematics|access-date=2015-01-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128112559/http://www.gamematics.net/guild-wars-2-impressions/|archive-date=2015-01-28}}

A low-budget jackalope mockumentary, Stagbunny, aired in Casper and Douglas in 2006. The movie included interviews with the owner of a Douglas sporting goods store who claimed to harbor a live jackalope on his premises and with a paleontologist who explained the natural history of the jackalope and its place in the fossil record.{{cite news|last=Delbridge |first=Rena |author-link= |title=Chasing the Jackalope |newspaper=Casper Star-Tribune |location=Casper, Wyoming |date=2006-12-16 |url=http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/chasing-the-jackalope/article_6cbbfdb2-e635-54e6-aa6e-b52b2e716271.html |access-date=2015-01-31 |archive-date=2016-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106175800/http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/chasing-the-jackalope/article_6cbbfdb2-e635-54e6-aa6e-b52b2e716271.html |url-status=live}}

Beginning in 1997, the Central Hockey League included a team called the Odessa Jackalopes.{{cite web|title=Odessa Jackalopes History|url=http://nahlodessa.pointstreaksites.com/view/nahlodessa/odessa-jackalopes-hockey-1|publisher=NAHL Odessa Jackalopes|year=2015|access-date=2015-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201041400/http://nahlodessa.pointstreaksites.com/view/nahlodessa/odessa-jackalopes-hockey-1|archive-date=2015-02-01|url-status=dead}} The team joined the South Division of the North American Hockey League before the 2011–12 season.{{cite web|title=Odessa Jackalopes|url=http://nahl.com/teams/team-detail.cfm?id=113|publisher=North American Hockey League|year=2015|access-date=2015-01-25|archive-date=2015-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122092716/http://nahl.com/teams/team-detail.cfm?id=113|url-status=live}} An Odessa sports writer expressed concern about the team's name, which he found insufficiently intimidating and which sounded like "something you might eat for breakfast."{{cite news|last=Turner |first=Chris |author-link=Chris Turner (author) |title=Sports |newspaper=The Odessa American |date=1997-02-28 |location=Odessa, Texas|page=1D}}

Jackalope Brewing Company, the first commercial brewery in Tennessee founded by women, opened in Nashville in 2011.{{cite news|title=Area's First Female-Run Brewery to Open This Spring|newspaper=The Daily Herald|date=2011-01-05 |location=Columbia, Tennessee|publisher=Stephen's Media}} Its craft beers include Thunder Ann, Sarka, Fennario, Bearwalker, and Lovebird.{{cite web|title=Our Beers|publisher=Jackalope Brewing Company|url=http://jackalopebrew.com/#our-beers|year=2021|access-date=2021-04-29|archive-date=2021-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301170410/https://jackalopebrew.com/#our-beers|url-status=live}}

Folklorist John A. Gutowski sees in the Douglas jackalope an example of an American tall tale publicized by a local community that seeks wider recognition. Through a combination of hoax and media activity, the town or other community draws attention to itself for social or economic reasons. A common adjunct to this activity involves the creation of an annual festival to perpetuate the town's association with the local legend.{{cite journal|last=Gutowski |first=John A. |author-link= |title=The Protofestival: Local Guide to American Folk Behavior|journal=Journal of the Folklore Institute|publisher=Indiana University Press|volume=15|number=2 (May/August 1978|pages=113–32|jstor=3814089|year=1978|doi=10.2307/3814089}}

Gutowski finds evidence of what he calls the "protofestival" pattern throughout the United States. In addition to the jackalope, his examples include the sea serpent of Nantucket, which in 1937 led to "stories of armadas hunting the monster, and footprint discoveries by local businessmen", accompanied by wide publicity. In similar fashion, Newport, Arkansas, publicized its White River Monster, and Algiers, Louisiana, claimed to be home to a flying Devil Man. Ware, Massachusetts, drew media attention to its local reputation for alligator sightings. Perry, New York, held Silver Lake Sea Serpent Festivals based on a local hoax. The Hodag Festival in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, celebrates "discovery" of a prehistoric creature in a nearby pit. Willow Creek, California, hosts an annual Bigfoot Festival. Since 1950, Churubusco, Indiana, has celebrated Turtle Days, based on a story, part real and part invented, about the hunt for the Beast of Busco, a {{convert|500|lb|kg|adj=on}} snapping turtle said to be living in a nearby lake.

Common to these tales, Gutowski says, is the recurring motif of the quest for the mythical animal, often a monster. The same motif, he notes, appears in American novels such as Moby Dick and Old Man and the Sea and in monster movies such as King Kong and Jaws and in world literature such as Beowulf. The monster motif also appears in tales of contemporary places outside the United States, such as Scotland, with its Loch Ness Monster. What is not global, Gutowski says, is the embrace of local monster tales by American communities that put them to use through "public relations hoaxes, boisterous boosterism, and [a] carnival atmosphere... ".

Folklorist Richard M. Dorson also cites the "booster impulse, mingled with entrepreneurial hoaxing" as the way that Douglas with its jackalope, Churubusco with its giant turtle, and other towns with their own local legends rise above anonymity. He traces the impulse and the methods to the promotional literature of colonial times that depicted North America as an earthly paradise. Much later, in the 19th century, settlers transferred that optimistic vision to the American West, where it culminated in "boosterism". Although other capitalist countries advertise their products, Dorson says, "...the intensity of the American ethos in advertising, huckstering, attention-getting, media-manipulating to sell a product, a personality, a town is beyond compare."{{cite journal|last=Dorson |first=Richard M. |author-link=Richard M. Dorson |title=Editor's Comment: Rejoinder to 'American Folklore vs. Folklore in America: A Fixed Fight?'|journal=Journal of the Folklore Institute|publisher=Indiana University Press|volume=17|number=1 (January/April 1980|pages=85–89|jstor=3814224|year=1980}}

• Al-mi'raj
• Lepus cornutus
• Rasselbock
• Rogue taxidermy
• Skvader

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Branch |first=Michael P. |author-link=Michael P. Branch |title=On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World's Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer |location= |publisher=Simon and Schuster |date=2022 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJ41EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT32 |isbn=9781643139326}}

{{refend}}

• Branch, Michael P. On the Trail of the Jackalope: How a Legend Captured the World's Imagination and Helped Us Cure Cancer. Simon and Schuster, 2022.

{{Commons category|Jackalopes}}

• [http://www.cityofdouglas.org/documentcenter/view/104 Limited Non-Resident Jackalope License] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204005312/http://cityofdouglas.org/DocumentCenter/View/104 |date=2015-02-04 }}

{{American tall tales}}

Category:Fearsome critters

Category:Fictional hybrid species and races

Category:Mythological hybrids

Category:Mythological rabbits and hares

Category:Symbols of Wyoming

Category:Taxidermy hoaxes

Category:Hoaxes in the United States