Patricia Burkhart.. Age 9, of Tucson, Ariz., for her question:
What exactly is a Jack rabbit?
One of the cutest pet bunnies is the Belgian hare, but the experts tell us that he is really a rabbit. A certain bunny, who changes to a fluffy coat of winter white, is called a snowshoe rabbit, but the experts tell us that he is really a hare.
The experts do not always agree with our names for the bunnies. Some are rabbits, some are hares and some are conies. There is a mix up, it seems, in the everyday names we give to some of these furry fellows. The cottontail rabbit is really a rabbit. But the bouncing Jack rabbit is actually a hare.
The conies live in rocky cities, and the rabbits bring up their babies in burrows. The sturdy hares do not pamper their babies with cosy nurseries. The four to six baby hares are born in a grassy nest right on the ground. The shallow nest is called a form, and the baby hares are called leverets.
There are several jack rabbit cousins, and all of them prefer to tackle the rough life of the prairies and the western mountains. The snowshoe rabbit, alias the varying hare, lives in Canada and the northern States Where winter blankets the ground with snow. Other Jack rabbits cope with life on the dry mesa lands, on the prairies arid far up the slopes of the western mountains.
Wherever he lives, the Jack rabbit is dressed to match his background: When he sits still, you could walk right by and not notice him. But, my, if he decides to make a run .for it, you just have to watch him until he is out of sight and this does not take very long.
The big bunny may be two or three feet long, and his mule like ears may be nine inches long. But his outstanding feature is a pair of long, strong back legs. He uses them to make leaps Of 10 to 15 feet into the air. When he decides to run for his life, he can outrun a hound dog, but he usually wins when he is chased by greyhounds, even though he dodges this way and that throw his enemies off his track.
The Jack rabbit dims on the tough, tough shrubbery of the prairie lands, and he comes down at night to nibble the tender grasses which sometimes grow near the desert streams. When the west was settled, he discovered the field crops and gardens of the human family, which is why the Jack rabbit is rated as a pest in certain places.
The baby hares are born fully clothed in furry coats. Their bright eyes are wide open, and they are ready to dope with the world when they are just a few days old. Baby rabbits and conies are born naked and blind, which is why the helpless infants must be sheltered in cozy, underground nurseries.