HABITAT: The Black-tailed Jackrabbit inhabits open plains, fields and deserts, and open country with 

 scattered thickets or patches of shrubs; ideal habitat includes short grasses and herbs for food and ease of 

 locomotion, with scattered brush for cover This species often becomes abundant on overgrazed land 

 because grazing encourages this type of vegetation, hi the Great Basin, the Black-tailed Jackrabbit often 

 inhabits sagebrush (Artemisia) desert and semi-desert. 



COMMENTS: Black-tailed Jackrabbits may have entered Montana after 1900, following a widespread 

 increase in sagebrush following fire suppression in Beaverhead County. This species is probably more 

 abundant than the relatively few records indicate, although populations undergo dramatic fluctuations; the 

 earliest record was published in 1937. 



REFERENCES: 



Hofimann, R. S., R L. Wright, and F. E. Newby 1969. The distribution of some mammals in Montana. I. 

 Mammals other than bats. Journal of Mammalogy 50:579-604. 



North, G. J., and R. E. Marsh. 1999. Black-tailed jackrabbit, Lepus califomicus. Pp. 699-701 In The 

 Smithsonian Book ofNorth American Mammals (D. E. Wilson and S. Rufl", eds.). Smithsonian Institution 

 Press, Washington, D.C. 



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