Scientist says jackrabbits are gone from Yellowstone

Jackson Hole Star Tribune & AP ^ | February 15, 2008 | MATTHEW BROWN

[george76]

A jackrabbit found throughout much of the West has disappeared from the Yellowstone area, although the reason why remains a mystery, a new study concludes.

Whatever the cause, the study suggests the white-tailed jackrabbit's disappearance has wrought major changes to Yellowstone's food chain.

Coyotes and wolves, which could have depended on the rabbit as a significant food source, apparently turned their attention instead to larger prey including young elk, pronghorn antelope -- even domestic livestock.

However, because the rabbit's decline went relatively unnoticed until now, quantifying that shift is virtually impossible, said the study's lead author, Joel Berger with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The white-tailed jackrabbit -- also known as the prairie hare -- was once a common sight in and around Yellowstone National Park...

Berger's study, appearing in the latest issue of the scientific journal Oryx, tells of one inhabitant of the region encountering "jillions" of the animals near Yellowstone as late as the 1930s.

Yet by the middle of the century, sightings within the 23,000 square mile Yellowstone region grew increasingly rare. That area includes portions of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Only three have been spotted by scientists since 1991 -- all in Grand Teton National Park...

[george76]

Time for another government program ?

.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Government-released wolves ate them all. Next question? ;)

[george76]

[SandyInSeattle]

Jackrabbits are smart. They know Yellowstone’s about to blow and headed west, away from the ash cloud.

[Lancey Howard]

Huh. So then, I guess the place is safe for Jimmy Carter?

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Ah...poor bunnies.

[Mark was here]

Perhaps the Spotted Owl developed a taste for Bugs Bunny.

[george76]

Grab your wallet.

I smell a new government study.

[aft_lizard]

Are hares bunny’s? I thought only rabbits are bunnies? But they do call it a jackrabbit, but also a hare? Is there a difference?

[purpleraine]

Have they been there since the big fire a few years ago?

[Hot Tabasco]

encountering "jillions" of the animals near Yellowstone as late as the 1930s.

They shortened their ears and moved into my subdivision here in S.E. Michigan. They even come up to the doorwall on my deck and I would swear they are now pals with my indoor cat........

[atomic conspiracy]

They all moved to Lubbock. Fringe areas of the city are infested with them.
I saw a smallish cat waiting in ambush for one in a vacant lot a while back. The rabbit bounded by and the little cat did a perfect imitation of a springing tiger as it pounced. The jack spun around, seemingly in mid-air, and kicked it about 6 feet. The rabbit continued on its way while the cat slunk away, presumably to rummage in trash cans.

[MinuteGal]

Hare today, gone tomorrow.

Leni

[smoothsailing]

Scientist says jackrabbits are gone from Yellowstone

I'd prefer to hear a scientist say all the jackasses are gone from Congress.

[girlangler]

Interesting, wonder what ate them?

[george76]

LOL

That is a good story :

” The rabbit continued on its way while the cat slunk away, presumably to rummage in trash cans. “

[swatbuznik]

Jackrabbits are smart. They know Yellowstone’s about to blow and headed west, away from the ash cloud.

You know, that was my exact thought, too....

[Westlander]

I got the last one

[jazusamo]

I didn’t think man was supposed to mess with Mother Nature. They don’t know why they disappeared but they want to reintroduce them, probably at a cost of millions.

Of course there’s always the possibility the Elmer did in those pesky wabbits.

[org.whodat]

Government-released wolves ate them all. Next question? ;)

Now you apply for a few million to study that and I'll help. We should be able to knock it out in a couple of hours for a few mill.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

The wolves wiped them out. The scientists who introduced the wolves to Yellowstone, along with the state authorities who allowed the practice should be brought before the International Tribunal and convicted of wiping out an animal species.

Fair is fair.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

LOL! I donno. They’re cute though. :)

[rellimpank]

-—yep-—but I think post #2 may be on to something—

[george76]

[org.whodat]

Is there a difference?

Yes, but it is just a hair hare!

[2111USMC]

Uh, Westlander, that’s not a jackrabbit.

That there’s a jackalope.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Quick tell Obama!

[cmsgop]

My Democrat Neighbor has one of those on his wall.

[george76]

Wolves, coyotes...?

[george76]

We need an Elmer picture.

[Doc91678]

Thanks...
I was just about to mention that.
There was a balance when there were just coyotes because the wolves had been removed.
Now that the wolves are back there is too much hunting pressure on the main food supply for both Coyotes and wolves.
Of course wolves also bring down deer, elk and the occasional livestock.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Quick tell Obama!

B.O. likes wabbits or the International Tribunal? Which one?

[commish]

Gee lets see... Yellowstone has jack rabbits which are natural prey for wolves... All wolves are removed from yellowstone ... jack rabbits lose fear of wolves as there is not threat... grey wolves are reintroduced to yellowstone ... Jack Rabbits dissappear.

Pretty simple deduction.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

The International Tribunal, of course. Maybe the UN can help him out too.

[TruthWillWin]

Must be wolves. I saw a program on the NatGeographic channel about Yellowstone. Showed where some of the wolf packs have even started going after bison. Takes a group effort but wolves are very smart.

[We Dare Defend Our Rights]

Lots of well fed Government sponsored wolves. Next the antelope then your sheep

[DouglasKC]

Wolves eat rabbits. Wolves are protected so nothing kills wolves. Wolves eat all the rabbits. Case closed?

[Cvengr]

We’ve also experienced a disappearance of bunnies in SoCA Coechella Valley/ Palm Springs area, although a few remain.

It’s been said that prior to many a cataclysm, animals naturally move to safer ground. I believe there were reports of native populations in rural coastal Africa and some islands who moved to high ground days before the Malaysian Tsunami in Thailand approached their coast, when there had been no mechanism to communicate the oncoming disaster. There reason for moving had been solely attributed to spiritual inclinations of their leaders.

Considering the recent quakes in Nevada and south of Mexicali located on volcanic domes, this might not portend good things to come for this region.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Where oh where our the wabbits?

[atomic conspiracy]

I developed a taste for rabbit (though not the American jack) while I was growing up in England. My dad and I used to hunt them with air rifles, the most powerful weapons we could have without a godawful bureaucratic rigamarole, even in the 1950s. They were almost the only really edible critters ordinary folk like us could hunt.

This being America, I have a 30-06 Winchester now, though not for shooting rabbits. My ex-wife did shoot a chicken with it once, but that is another story (she was aiming at a coyote).

[Ditter]

Of course the wolves ate them, why is that such a mystery to these idiots?

Maybe they will now repopulate Yellowstone with jackrabbits they catch in west Texas. Always going to be a job for these folks.

[eartotheground]

You’re right. They had an hour-long TV program on Nat. Geo.channel last week about the wolves they put back in the park. Obviously “Mr. Scientist” missed that show.

[Friend_from_the_Frozen_North]

"(The) journal Oryx, tells of one inhabitant of the region encountering "jillions" of the animals near Yellowstone as late as the 1930s..."

I was assigned to an Army installation in New York in the late 1980s and encountered "jillions" (probably hundreds of thousands in reality) of deer because the deer had no natural predators left.

I've said for years that wolves should be surreptitiously reintroduced to New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Massachusetts (since the left-wing idiots in those states are so bent on protecting the wolves in Alaska). Maybe we could find some of the white-tailed jackrabbits elsewhere and reintroduce them into those states as well...

[Charles Martel]

The jack spun around, seemingly in mid-air, and kicked it about 6 feet.

Crouching Tiger, Springing Hare.

[Army Air Corps]

They all moved to Lubbock.

They are here to keep the prairie dogs company.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

One I spoke with outside Yuba City last year said his family had come from there but that they were evacuating the area because “the super eruption is coming”. Not sure what he meant by that.

[blam]

"Jackrabbits are smart. They know Yellowstone’s about to blow and headed west, away from the ash cloud."

Hey. Animals left before the tsunami...why not a super-volcano too?

[george76]

Thanks for the Elmer picture.

[jazusamo]

This has got to be it.

[randita]

Maybe they’re gone from Yellowstone, but they’re in the neighboring park, Grand Tetons. Hubby and I saw one in Grand Tetons while hiking around Jenny Lake a couple of years ago.