Lepus townsendii
Silhouette: Jan A. Venter, Herbert H. T. Prins, David A. Balfour & Rob Slotow (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The white-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii), also known as the prairie hare and the white jack, is a species of hare found in western North America. Like all hares and rabbits, it is a member of the family Leporidae of order Lagomorpha. It is a solitary individual except where several males court a female in the breeding season. Litters of four to five young are born in a form, a shallow depression in the ground, hidden among vegetation. This jackrabbit has two described subspecies: L. townsendii townsendii occurring west of the Rocky Mountains and L. townsendii campanius occurring east of the Rocky Mountains.
The white-tailed jackrabbit is a large species of hare and is the largest species called "jackrabbit". This jackrabbit has an adult length of 22 to 26 inches (56 to 65 centimeters), including a tail measuring 2.6 to 4.0 in (6.6 to 10.2 cm), and a weight between 5.5 and 9.5 pounds (2.5 and 4.3 kilograms). From winter to spring, weight tends to increase in females due to pregnancy, but decrease in males due to the stresses of reproductive competition. Thus, females in Iowa went from averaging 7.9 lb (3,600 g) in winter to 8.4 lb (3,800 g) in spring and males... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Jackrabbit sighting in Yosemite National Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 21 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–September and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-tailed Jackrabbit in Yosemite National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October and December–April, the lowest months. Those are among Yosemite National Park's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain a month against 220 mm in January.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-tailed Jackrabbit sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate White-tailed Jackrabbit sightings, Yosemite National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-tailed Jackrabbit is recorded against all the mammals logged in Yosemite National Park (21 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
