Jackalope
Encyclopedia
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North America
n folklore (a so-called "fearsome critter") described as a jackrabbit with antelope
horns or deer
antlers and sometimes a pheasant
's tail (and often hind legs). The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope
". It is also known as Lepus temperamentalus.
It is possible that the tales of jackalopes were inspired by sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus
, which causes the growth of horn- and antler-like tumor
s in various places on the rabbit's head and body. This can occur in cottontail rabbits under natural conditions and in domestic
rabbits under experimental conditions. Systemic regression of warts occurs in a variable proportion of rabbits as a consequence of a specific cell-mediated immune response. Persistent warts may progress into invasive carcinomas. Progression into carcinomas is observed in approximately 25% of cottontail rabbits and in up to 75% of domestic rabbits with persistent warts. However, the concept of an animal hybrid occurs in many cultures, for example as the griffin
and the chimera
. Indeed, the term chimera has become the categorical term for such composites within the English language.
) claims as to the creature's habits. For example, it is said to be a hybrid of the pygmy-deer and a species of "killer rabbit
". Reportedly, jackalopes are extremely shy unless approached. Legend also has it that female jackalopes can be milked as they sleep belly up and that the milk
can be used for a variety of medicinal purposes. It has also been said that the jackalope can convincingly imitate any sound, including the human voice
. It uses this ability
to elude pursuers, chiefly by using phrases such as "There he goes! That way!" During days of the Old West, when cowboys gathered by the campfires singing at night, jackalopes could often be heard mimicking their voices. It is said that a jackalope may be caught by putting a flask of whiskey out at night. The jackalope will drink its fill of whiskey and its intoxication will make it easier to hunt. In some parts of the United States it is said that jackalope meat
has a taste similar to lobster. However, legend has it that they are dangerous if approached. It has also been said that jackalopes will only breed during electrical storms including hail
, explaining its rarity.
The Jackalope was first encountered by John Colter
, one of the first white men to enter what would one day be the State of Wyoming. The first Jackolope spotting was said to be in Douglas, Wyoming, accoring to legend, in 1829. In this town, due to the discovery, there is a statue of the Jackolope, and they celebrate Jackalope Day every year. Jackalopes are legendary in the U.S. – attributed by the New York Times to a 1932 hunting outing involving Douglas Herrick (1920–2003) of Douglas, Wyoming
, and thus the town was named the "Home of the Jackalope" by the state of Wyoming in 1985. The state of Wyoming trademarked the name in 1965. According to the Douglas Chamber of Commerce, a 1930s hunting trip for jackrabbits led to the idea of a Jackalope. Herrick and his brother had studied taxidermy by mail order as teenagers. When the brothers returned from a hunting trip, Herrick tossed a jackrabbit carcass into the taxidermy store, where it came to rest beside a pair of deer antlers. The accidental combination of animal forms sparked Douglas Herrick's idea for a jackalope. 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. The Douglas Chamber of Commerce has issued thousands of Jackalope Hunting Licenses to tourists. The tags are good for hunting only during official Jackalope season, which occurs for only one day: June 31 (a nonexistent date as June has 30 days), from midnight to 2 AM. The hunter may not have an IQ greater than 72. In 2005, the House of the Wyoming state legislature passed a bill to declare the jackalope the "official mythological creature" of Wyoming, by a vote of 45-12 and referred it to the state Senate, where the bill was indefinitely postponed on March 2, 2005.
More mythologic references can be found in the Huichol legends of the deer and the horned rabbit. The Huichol oral tradition has passed down tales of the sharing of horns between the two animals. This folklore may be due to the papilloma viral infection of the Western United States and Mexico from the 1880s - 1930's. The rabbit and deer have also been paired up as far back as the Mesoamerican period of the Aztecs as twins, brothers, even the sun and moon.
Similar creatures have been recognized for centuries in alpine regions of Europe (Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland), including the following: Wolpertinger
(Bayern, Germany), Blutschink (Tirol, Austria), Dahu
(Switzerland, France)
, Dilldapp (some specific regions), Elwetritsch (Pfalz, Germany), Hanghuhn (Thüringen, Germany), and Rasselbock (Thüringen and Sachsen, Germany).
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. Douglas Herrick and his brother after disovering the Jackalope, began to sell mounted Jackalope heads to increase popularity of the Jackolope. You can find these heads in bars all of the United States. Postcards of the Jackolope also increased popularity. These methods made the Jackalope much more popular.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n folklore (a so-called "fearsome critter") described as a jackrabbit with antelope
Pronghorn
The pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...
horns or deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
antlers and sometimes a pheasant
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
's tail (and often hind legs). The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
". It is also known as Lepus temperamentalus.
It is possible that the tales of jackalopes were inspired by sightings of rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus
Shope papilloma virus
The cottontail rabbit papilloma virus , or Shope papilloma virus, is a type I virus under the Baltimore scheme, possessing a nonsegmented dsDNA genome. It infects rabbits, causing keratinous carcinomas, typically on or near the animal’s head...
, which causes the growth of horn- and antler-like tumor
Tumor
A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...
s in various places on the rabbit's head and body. This can occur in cottontail rabbits under natural conditions and in domestic
Domestic
Domestic or domestique can refer to:* A cycling domestique* A domestic worker* Domestic airport* Domestic violence* Domestic , a group with Trust in Trance Records* Domestikos , a Byzantine title...
rabbits under experimental conditions. Systemic regression of warts occurs in a variable proportion of rabbits as a consequence of a specific cell-mediated immune response. Persistent warts may progress into invasive carcinomas. Progression into carcinomas is observed in approximately 25% of cottontail rabbits and in up to 75% of domestic rabbits with persistent warts. However, the concept of an animal hybrid occurs in many cultures, for example as the griffin
Griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...
and the chimera
Chimera (mythology)
The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...
. Indeed, the term chimera has become the categorical term for such composites within the English language.
Myth
The jackalope has bred the rise of many outlandish (and largely tongue-in-cheekTongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
) claims as to the creature's habits. For example, it is said to be a hybrid of the pygmy-deer and a species of "killer rabbit
Killer rabbit
Killer rabbit may refer to:* Rabbit of Caerbannog, a fictional beast from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail* Jimmy Carter rabbit incident, a 1979 incident involving a swamp rabbit trying to board President Jimmy Carter's fishing boat...
". Reportedly, jackalopes are extremely shy unless approached. Legend also has it that female jackalopes can be milked as they sleep belly up and that the milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
can be used for a variety of medicinal purposes. It has also been said that the jackalope can convincingly imitate any sound, including the human voice
Voice
Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
. It uses this ability
Skill
A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...
to elude pursuers, chiefly by using phrases such as "There he goes! That way!" During days of the Old West, when cowboys gathered by the campfires singing at night, jackalopes could often be heard mimicking their voices. It is said that a jackalope may be caught by putting a flask of whiskey out at night. The jackalope will drink its fill of whiskey and its intoxication will make it easier to hunt. In some parts of the United States it is said that jackalope meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
has a taste similar to lobster. However, legend has it that they are dangerous if approached. It has also been said that jackalopes will only breed during electrical storms including hail
Hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between and in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms...
, explaining its rarity.
The Jackalope was first encountered by John Colter
John Colter
John Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition . Though party to one of the more famous expeditions in history, Colter is best remembered for explorations he made during the winter of 1807–1808, when Colter became the first known person of European descent to enter the region now known...
, one of the first white men to enter what would one day be the State of Wyoming. The first Jackolope spotting was said to be in Douglas, Wyoming, accoring to legend, in 1829. In this town, due to the discovery, there is a statue of the Jackolope, and they celebrate Jackalope Day every year. Jackalopes are legendary in the U.S. – attributed by the New York Times to a 1932 hunting outing involving Douglas Herrick (1920–2003) of Douglas, Wyoming
Douglas, Wyoming
Douglas is a city in Converse County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 5,288 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Converse County...
, and thus the town was named the "Home of the Jackalope" by the state of Wyoming in 1985. The state of Wyoming trademarked the name in 1965. According to the Douglas Chamber of Commerce, a 1930s hunting trip for jackrabbits led to the idea of a Jackalope. Herrick and his brother had studied taxidermy by mail order as teenagers. When the brothers returned from a hunting trip, Herrick tossed a jackrabbit carcass into the taxidermy store, where it came to rest beside a pair of deer antlers. The accidental combination of animal forms sparked Douglas Herrick's idea for a jackalope. 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. The Douglas Chamber of Commerce has issued thousands of Jackalope Hunting Licenses to tourists. The tags are good for hunting only during official Jackalope season, which occurs for only one day: June 31 (a nonexistent date as June has 30 days), from midnight to 2 AM. The hunter may not have an IQ greater than 72. In 2005, the House of the Wyoming state legislature passed a bill to declare the jackalope the "official mythological creature" of Wyoming, by a vote of 45-12 and referred it to the state Senate, where the bill was indefinitely postponed on March 2, 2005.
More mythologic references can be found in the Huichol legends of the deer and the horned rabbit. The Huichol oral tradition has passed down tales of the sharing of horns between the two animals. This folklore may be due to the papilloma viral infection of the Western United States and Mexico from the 1880s - 1930's. The rabbit and deer have also been paired up as far back as the Mesoamerican period of the Aztecs as twins, brothers, even the sun and moon.
Similar creatures have been recognized for centuries in alpine regions of Europe (Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland), including the following: Wolpertinger
Wolpertinger
In Bavarian folklore, a wolpertinger is an animal said to inhabit the alpine forests of Bavaria in Germany. It has a body comprised from various animal parts — generally wings, antlers, tails and fangs, all attached to the body of a small mammal...
(Bayern, Germany), Blutschink (Tirol, Austria), Dahu
Dahu
The dahu is a legendary creature well known in France, Switzerland and the north of Italy.French pranksters often describe the dahu as a mountain goat-like animal with legs of differing lengths....
(Switzerland, France)
, Dilldapp (some specific regions), Elwetritsch (Pfalz, Germany), Hanghuhn (Thüringen, Germany), and Rasselbock (Thüringen and Sachsen, Germany).
Humor
Jackalope legendsFolklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
are sometimes used by locals to play tricks on tourists. This joke was employed by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
to reporters in 1980 during a tour of his California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
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. Douglas Herrick and his brother after disovering the Jackalope, began to sell mounted Jackalope heads to increase popularity of the Jackolope. You can find these heads in bars all of the United States. Postcards of the Jackolope also increased popularity. These methods made the Jackalope much more popular.