Is a Jackalope Real?
VERDICT
CONFIDENCE
95%
Direct Answer
Jackalopes — jackrabbits with antelope horns — appear on novelty postcards, taxidermy mounts in Western bars, and roadside attraction signage across the American West. They are presented as the quintessential tall tale, a joke for tourists. But the biological basis for the legend is more interesting than the punchline.
What the Evidence Shows
The Shope Papilloma Virus Zoo Atlanta's wildlife experts explain that rabbits infected with Shope papilloma virus — a real, documented pathogen first identified in the 1930s — can develop keratinized, horn-like or antler-like growths on their heads and faces. These are fibropapillomas: tumors made of keratin, the same protein that forms horns, hooves, and fingernails. A rabbit with advanced Shope papilloma infection can look strikingly like early descriptions of a horned rabbit. The leading theory among wildlife biologists and folklore researchers is that early European settlers in North America encountered infected rabbits and genuinely did not understand what they were seeing. Those sightings fed into oral tradition as reports of horned jackrabbits, which eventually became the jackalope legend. Douglas Herrick of Douglas, Wyoming, who popularized jackalope taxidermy mounts in the 1930s-40s, likely encountered this tradition and commodified it. The Legend vs. the Biology The classic jackalope — a healthy rabbit species that naturally grows antelope horns as a normal trait — does not exist. There is no species in any zoological classification that matches the novelty version. But dismissing the jackalope as pure invention with no real-world basis misses the virus story. TruthRadar Verdict TruthRadar labels the claim 'the jackalope is a real naturally-horned rabbit species' as MISLEADING (95% confidence). No such species exists. However, infected rabbits with horn-like viral growths almost certainly inspired the legend — giving the tall tale a genuine biological footnote.
Why People Get This Wrong
People believe jackalopes are real due to the striking realism of taxidermy mounts created by Wyoming brothers in the 1930s, which grafted deer antlers onto jackrabbit carcasses and sold widely to tourists, bars, and gift shops across the American West[1][2][3]. This hoax gained cultural traction through postcards, souvenirs, festivals like Jackalope Days in Douglas, Wyoming, and media appearances, blending seamlessly with regional folklore of 'fearsome critters.' A kernel of truth from Shope papilloma virus causing horn-like warts on infected rabbits further fuels the myth, as sightings of these warty rabbits in dim light could be misinterpreted as the mythical creature[3][4][5].
Sources & Methodology
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