How Do Jackalopes Work?

Jackalopes are mythical creatures with the body of a jackrabbit and the horns of a deer or pronghorn. Learn how tales about them got started in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/jackalope.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff, Loruren Vogelbaum. Here. Every few years, the Wyoming
legislature debates a hot button issue. Should the Jackalope, a
kind of made up jack rabbit with antlers, be recognized
as the state's official mythical creature. In the House of

(00:25):
Representatives in Cheyenne passed a bill that would bestow this
honor upon the fabled beast, but it died in the
state Senate. Earlier attempts to pass the bill met the
same roadblock. Who knows, maybe someday the hopping horned critter
will finally jump across that legislative finish line. And if
it doesn't, at least there's still the Jackalope Days Festival,

(00:49):
a summer shindig held in Douglas, Wyoming, every June. The
fest gives tourists a perfect excuse to come and gawk
at all the antler lagamore statues populating the Ease downtown area.
You couldn't miss Douglas if you tried. There's a jackalope
statue measuring thirteen feet about four meters tall, greeting motorists
at the city's exit on Interstate five Over in Mount

(01:13):
Rushmore Country, we find another giant jackalope, complete with the saddle,
at South Dakota's famous Wall Drug attraction. And that's to
say nothing of all the stuffed jacalope heads mounted on
walls at diners and souvenir stores across the Western United States.
One of these was given to then President Ronald Reagan
at a six campaign stop in Rapid City, South Dakota.

(01:38):
The All American Jackalope is considered the brainchild of taxidermist
Douglas Herrick. He was born just north of Douglas, Wyoming,
on July eight of nineteen twenty, and he served in
the U. S. Air Force during World War Two. This
was followed by a long career as a pipe fitter
and welder. Also an avid hunter, Herrick studied taxidermy as

(01:58):
a teenager, so at his brother Ralph Herrick, the family
had its very own taxidermy's shop, which is where Wyoming's
favorite fictional animal got its start. Varying accounts say the
jackalope was created sometime in nineteen thirty two or nineteen
thirty four, or nineteen thirty nine or nineteen forty. In

(02:18):
any case, the story goes that its birth was a
happy accident. One day, the Herrick brothers, fresh from hunt,
brought a dead jack rabbit into their shop. The carcass
was placed or possibly thrown, next to a set of
antlers on the floor. Seeing those things together gave Douglas
an idea. As Ralph told The New York Times in

(02:39):
nineteen seven, Doug said, let's mount it the way it is.
Mike Harrick, Douglas's son, said in a two thousand three
exchange with the Casper Star Tribune, I think that it
was kind of a joke. A lot of taxidermists full around,
but he didn't know they would get so popular. I
know he didn't know. One Roy Ball of Douglas by

(03:00):
Coming bought the original mounted jackalope off the Herricks for
ten dollars. After being displayed at a hotel, ball owed
the stuffed masterpiece was stolen in the thief was never caught.
Yet the jackalope business was just getting started. The Herrick
family produced and sold tens of thousands of these furry

(03:21):
franken beasts, a fixing deer or pronghorn antler's to jack
rabbit heads. The Wall Drug became a major distributor When
Douglas died in two thousand three, The New York Times
reported that Ralph's son Jim was delivering quote four hundred
jacalopes to wall drug in South Dakota three times a year,
a small portion of his total production. Seeing mounted jackalopes

(03:45):
inspired people to start making up stories about live ones.
Some of those tales get pretty tall. For example, jackalopes
are said to be quite musical. They supposedly have nice
tenor voices and can be heard singing in a wilderness
from time to time. A rumor has it that the
animals enjoy cowboy campfire songs. If you start one up,

(04:07):
they'll happily join the chorus from afar. Another story claims
a member of the Herrick family saw a real live
jackalope around Buffalo, Wyoming in n Ralph denied this, but
these fun tales have only enhanced the jackalopes real world impact.
Since the late nineteen forties, the Chamber of Commerce in Douglas,

(04:28):
Wyoming has issued jackalope hunting licenses. Carriers are allowed to quote, hunt, pursue, trap,
or otherwise take one one pronghorn jackalope within the lawful
boundaries of Converse County. Wyoming on June thirty one, between
sunrise and sunset only. Failure to have this license approved
and issued by a resident of Converse County, Wyoming, or

(04:50):
to otherwise comply with the terms here of May on
conviction thereof result in a fine of thirteen dollars and
or a sentence of thirteen months hard play in doug Is, Wyoming.
We're not sure if anyone has ever succeeded in their
pursuit of the hunt, but things just get sillier from here.
According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's official website,

(05:13):
the jackalopes natural predators include coyotes, bobcats, eagles, and chop acabras,
among other varyingly existent animals, and on May fifteenth, five,
Wyoming Governor Ed Herschler signed a proclamation recognizing Douglas, Wyoming
as the home of the jackalope. Perhaps, obviously, there's no

(05:36):
such thing as a jackalope, yet we do have historical
descriptions of rabbits or hairs with antlers and horns that
date back to the seventeenth century and even earlier. There's
a virus called the Chope papaloma virus that could explain
some of those sightings related to the human papaloma virus.
This affliction actually does cause rabbits and hairs to develop

(06:00):
born like tumors. But wou'd hate to leave you on
such a depressing note, so let's end this episode on
a bit more from the natural history of the jackalope,
as related by the City of Douglas's Jackalope Hunting License
web page. It explains that although there seems to be
a missing link in the jacalob's evolution, a now extinct

(06:21):
or perhaps highly endangered cousin used to roam the plains
in great numbers, the sabretooth jackalope. This specimen could be
distinguished by its much larger size up to a hundred
and fifty pounds about seventy kilos, it's bangs up to
a foot and length that's about thirty centimes, and it's
vicious attacks on windmills. However, the history states that the

(06:44):
sabretooth jackalope would join their smaller cousins and song in
perfect harmony, albeit with slightly deeper voices and a hint
of a French accent, likely picked up from early trappers
in the area. Today's episode is based on the article
our jackylopes really roaming the State of Wyoming on how

(07:05):
stuff works dot Com, written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff
is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how
stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler clang
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