Nice photo! I still have yet to see a Black tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) in the wild, which area was this photo taken ? I ask so I can figure out the specific subspecies of this animal
Hi Jbnbsn99, sorry for the late response, thank you for your answer. Considering the part of Texas that this park is located, It appears the subspecies we are looking at here is either Lepus californicus merriamai or Lepus californicus melanotis
Psh. American mammals have so many subspecies that it boggles the mind. The great naming of the late 1800s/early 1900s. Everyone wanted their name attached to something. It might get split into two, eastern and western. That kind of split would at least make sense.
17 subspecies does sound like a lot, however I dont know enough about the distinguishing characteristics between the described Black tailed jackrabbit subspecies to make a judgement, I would be interested in doing further research on this
@Chlidonias, the Black tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) has been split before, the Black jackrabbit (Lepus insularis) was previously considered a subspecies of Lepus californicus
