One of the most unusual and little-known members of the hare family, found only on Espíritu Santo Island, a small island in the Gulf of California, off the coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico. As its name suggests, this jackrabbit is strikingly different from its mainland relatives: instead of the grays and browns that help most hares blend into grasslands, the black jackrabbit has a much darker, nearly charcoal-black coat that sets it apart at a glance.

Its most notable feature is its dark pelage, which covers most of its body but contrasts with a lighter-colored belly and undertail. Like other hares, it has long ears and powerful hind legs, built for speed and escape across open ground. The black fur is thought to be an adaptation to the island’s volcanic landscape, where darker colors may help it blend into rocky terrain better than the typical brown-gray camouflage of other jackrabbits.

The black jackrabbit is strictly herbivorous, feeding on desert vegetation such as grasses, cacti pads, and shrubs. On an island where resources are more limited than on the mainland, it has adapted to make the most of what is available, including plants that other animals might find too tough or unpalatable. Like other hares, it practices coprophagy—re-ingesting its soft droppings to extract additional nutrients from fibrous plants.

Because of its island lifestyle, the black jackrabbit is rarely seen and poorly studied. It is primarily nocturnal, spending the daytime resting in shallow scrapes or hiding in vegetation, and emerging at night to forage. Its predators are few compared to mainland hares, but raptors remain a threat, and habitat disturbance from human activity on Espíritu Santo Island poses risks to its survival. Its limited range makes it especially vulnerable to environmental change, since the entire population is confined to a single island.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Mexico

<1,000

Official estimate

VU

2018

Baja California Sur