the.com/jackalope
a fake animal so committed to the bit it grew real horns
means A mythical creature of American folklore depicted as a jackrabbit with antelope or deer horns, often presented as a real taxidermy specimen in jokes and tall tales.
from A blend of "jackrabbit" and "antelope." The creature was popularized in the 1930s in Douglas, Wyoming, where taxidermists mounted rabbit heads with deer antlers and sold them as the real thing. The folklore likely drew on a kernel of truth: rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus grow horn-like keratin tumors, which may have fed older sightings of "horned hares" — a motif that turns up across European folklore too.
- origin
- invented by a Wyoming taxidermist in the 1930s
- the real virus
- actual rabbits grow horn-like tumors from infection
- official status
- Wyoming's legislatively recognized mythological creature
- hunting license
- valid only one night, midnight to 2am
- folklore
- said to mimic human voices to evade hunters
douglas wyoming jackalope — taxidermy hoax created by douglas herrick in 1934 that became a cultural legend
jackalope whiskey — spirit brand from wyoming that uses the mythical creature as its mascot and namesake