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The Trust Project

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(Provided by Gigafact.)

The jackalope, a mythical half-hare, half-antelope that has long been part of Western lore, was popularized by a Wyoming taxidermist.

According to the city of Douglas, Wyoming, local taxidermist Ralph Herrick and his brother, Doug, dreamt up the creature in 1934 after they happened to place a dead rabbit next to a pair of antlers in their taxidermy shop. One of the brothers suggested they put the two together.

Over the next decades, the frankensteined creature ended up in gift shops and service stations across the Rocky Mountains, becoming as ubiquitous a regional cultural phenomenon as the Jersey Devil or the Pacific Northwest Sasquatch. 

The city of Douglas has made “Home of the Jackalope” its motto and has an annual Jackalope Days festival every June. Even Colorado Fish and Wildlife has gotten into the fun, announcing on April Fool’s Day, 2019, that the day marked the opening of jackalope season for hunters.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

See full source list below.

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References:

The Legend of the Jackalope, City of Douglas. Source link.

Tweet, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, April 1, 2019. Source link.

Jackalope Days, Converse County Tourism. Source link.

The world’s scariest rabbit lurks within the Smithsonian’s collection, Smithsonian Institution, June 17, 2020. Source link.

Type of Story: Fact-Check

Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.

Justin George is a 1995 graduate of Columbine High School. He has worked as a reporter at six news organizations including the Boulder Daily Camera, the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. Email him at justin@coloradosun.com