Straight Dope indeed! Well youre half right anyway. Oh Cecil, how can u possibly claim there are no such things as jackalopes? As a happy healthy and married jackalope myself, I can assure you we are nothing short of the real deal. Please get your facts straight next time and try doing a little more research. I didnt have to look real hard to find proof of the exsistance of jackalopes, sheesh.
Silly person. The reason there is no such thing as a Jackelope is because the elusive critters are a cross between jackrabbit and pronghorn, not antelope. The misnamed Antilocapra Americana is a true antelope but a completely different species.
OK, I see I’m going to have to clear some things up here. Yes, of course a Jackalope is hybrid between a jackrabbit (which is actually one of several species of american hares), usually the blacktail jackrabbit Lepus californicus, and the pronghorn antelope Antilocapra americana.
There are no true antelope in North America of the kind you see in Africa. True antelope are goat-like/cow-like members if the family Bovidae with solid horns that grow throughout their lives. What we have is variously called an antelope, pronghorn antelope, or pronghorn, the last surviving member of the family Antilocapridae. The pronghorn has a bony core to its horns (like an antelope), but sheds the forked outer layer every year (like a deer). There used to be lots of different Antilocaprids running around North America, but they all went extinct long ago. To avoid confusion scientist-types like to call the thing a pronghorn, just so impressionable youngsters like Padeye don’t get confused. And Antilocapra americana is not misnamed, its name describes it well…Antelope-goat of America. I suppose Antilocerva would be even better, but it’s too late to change now.
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.
To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space before and after the text of the URL).
Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:
Does the jackalope have a rabbit’s body but an antelope’s horns? (11-Aug-2000)
So in getting this hybrid between an antelope and a jackrabbit, who stands on the stepladder? Or does the antelope just hunker WAY down?
For a great article on jackalopes including amazing pictures, see this month’s issue of Backpacker Magazine (online at http://www.backpacker.com/article/0,2646,1202,00.html).
One woman’s search for the jackalope in the American West. Embarrassment for her husband. A real page-turner.
Oh, horseshit (that’s a cross between a member of the equine family and a member of the Democratic party), the jackalope is a crossbreed, but the name is a slight misnomer. Look closely at the thousands of photos of jackalopes. Those are deer antlers on those puppies (the term used for jackalopes of any gender).
I have here a postcard from an American friend entitled ‘Michigan Jackalope’.
“The first white man to see this singular fauna specimen was a trapper named George McLean in 1829. When he told of it later he was promptly denounced a a liar. An odd trait of the Jackalope is its ability to imitate the human voice. Hunters singing around the campfire at night have been startled to hear their lonesome melodies repeated faithfully from some nearby hillside. The phantom echo comes from the throat of some Jackalope. They sing only on dark nights before a thunderstorm. Stories that they cometimes get together and sing in chorus are discounted by those who know them best.”
So, it would appear that either jackalopes have expanded their territory northwards, or postcard makers are trying to make a buck out of a good thing in as many states as possibile 
Snaf
[[So, it would appear that either jackalopes have expanded their territory northwards, or postcard makers are trying to make a buck out of a good thing in as many states as possibile]]
Or that Midwestern and Eastern states have fewer scenic views for their postcards and have to borrow spoof cards from the west…
- Jill
I don’t know about jackalopes, but does anyone else remember the basselope?
The link that Ceejaytee provided mentioned a trip to Wall Drug. However, they have obviously caved to pressure from the state’s cryptozoophiles and decided to hide the truth behind obvious fakes. (Rabbits with antlers? 15 foot long jackalopes? feh)
When I visited Wall Drugs almost 40 years ago, they had an actual stuffed jackalope mounted near the hallway between two of the rooms. It stood about 5 - 5 1/2 feet high, was clearly lepine in descent, and sported the modest pronghorns that the species actually grows.
I can only conclude that the cryptozoophiles have made sufficient inroads into the government that they can now dictate which species we will be allowed to examine.
(Probably explains what happened to all the sasquatch that were reported in the mid-1960’s, as well.)
“The folks at the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas, which has a traveling exhibit on the jackalope, say reports of horned rabbits were published in Europe as early as 1551.”
This is true. I have a book of medieval etchings and sketches, and there is a magnificent etching by Albrecht Durer, IIRC, of a horned rabbit. I was quite amazed to see it.
When I was in Germany, I also saw a cousin to the jackalope, a stuffed beastie called a volpertinger. It had duck feet, a squirrel’s body, horns on the head and I think a few feathers here and there. The volpertinger was on display in a pub and was, I suspect, inspired by nights of too much beer.
What’s next? Flying Reindeer? Why stop there? Just say it:
"THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS SANTA, THE EASTER BUNNY, THE TOOTH FAIRY OR THE GREAT PUMPKIN"
I know you want to fight ignorance, but is nothing sacred???
(forgive me, I just had my kids finally convinced we saw Jackalope in Yellowstone, and then they almost saw the article. I read it out loud to them instead. 
)
-Katy