Hare Research Articles

Life History of the Tick Dermacentor parumapertus in Utah

The tick Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann is considered to be of great importance as a potential vector in epizootics in the Great Basin area in Utah for the following reasons: (1) It has wide geographic distribution; (2) it is relatively abundant on many kinds of mammals, being the most common tick of the lower elevations of this region; (3) in nature it is known to harbor the bacteria of tularemia, the virus of Colorado tick fever, and a rickettsia similar to that which causes spotted fever (Philip and Hughes, 1953); and (4) it has been experimentally shown to transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever (Maver, 1911; Parker, Phillip, and Jellison, 1933), and tularemia (Parker et al, 1937). Early observations on its life history, bionomics and distribution were published by Hooker, Bishop and Wood (1912). More recent information based on Utah material was obtained by Stanford (1934), Edmunds (1951), Coffey (1954), Fremling and Gastfriend (1955), Gastfriend (1955), Beck (1955), and Allred and Roscoe (unpublished observations). The present paper presents the results of studies of certain phases of the life cycle and biology of this tick in the Great Basin in Utah (see Tanner, 1954) not completely covered by those workers cited above. Adult ticks of this species have been found in great numbers only on the blacktailed jack rabbit. Coffey and Gastfriend have shown that the larval and nymphal stages occur on 12 or more kinds of rodents, including kangaroo rats, Dipodomys 'microps bonnevillei Goldman and D. ordii pallidus Durrant and Setzer. These rats frequently are infested by great numbers of these immature ticks, and probably are their most common hosts in the area of the Great Basin. The body structure and manner of locomotion of the rats seem ideally adapted for this host-parasite relationship. Experiments in the laboratory have shown that their long penicillate tails act as collecting brushes, sweeping the ground and picking up great numbers of larval and nymphal ticks. The frequent host-parasite association between D. parumapertus and the kangaroo rats led to the belief that these small rodents could be utilized for rearing ticks. Subsequent use has demonstrated their applicability for this purpose as well as for other laboratory experiments. They are abundant, easy to handle, have minimum water and simple dietary requirements, and are adaptable to confinement.

Genetics and the Inheritance of Integrated Neurological and Psychiatric Patterns. Davenport Hooker , Clarence C. Hare

Previous articleNext article No AccessNew Biological BooksGenetics and the Inheritance of Integrated Neurological and Psychiatric Patterns. Davenport Hooker , Clarence C. Hare David B. TylerDavid B. Tyler Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 31, Number 2Jun., 1956 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/401287 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Comparison of Behavior Development in Snowshoe Hares and Red Squirrels

On the afternoon of June 22, 1954, two very young Lepus americanus phaeonotus were brought to two of us (M. M. N., C. N.) at the Delta Waterfowl Research Station at Delta, Manitoba. Their weights the following morning were 51.6 grams for A, the male, and 45 grams for B, the female. Severaid's (1942) weights of 39 new-born snowshoe hares ranged from 55 to 100 grams, averaging 72. MacLulich (1937) found that one of a litter of two weighed 49 grams at two days, while in another litter of two, one weighed 58 grams at birth and the other 48 grams. We kept the leverets in a box with heat supplied by a chemical pad. We fed them on too weak a mixture of cow's milk, water, and sugar and they lost weight. On the 27th, B died and two days later, A. Too late we learned that undiluted evaporated milk enriched with vitamins is the right diet for raising small mammals (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1953). While the little hares lived, they seemed well and active, and the development of their motor coordinations appeared worthy of record. In the matter of locomotion our hares matched Grange's (1932) “Hare 11,” born in captivity and raised by its mother. During the first two days they walked for the most part. On the evening of the 23rd, A gave a few little hops and B gave many; the next day hopping was well established. The European hare, Lepus europaeus , at first creeps with little steps (Hediger, 1948). The California jack rabbit, Lepus californicus , does “not exhibit well-coordinated hopping activity until two or three days of age,” (Haskell and Reynolds, 1947). On June 24, A stood on his hind legs in the feeding box and jumped out over the 12 cm. side, tumbling on …

Evidence of Infectious Diseases and Parasites in a Peak Population of Black-Tailed Jack Rabbits in Nevada

Evidence of Infectious Diseases and Parasites in a Peak Population of Black-Tailed Jack Rabbits in Nevada

Mr. Hare and Naturalism

Mr. Hare and Naturalism

Mr. Hare and Naturalism

Mr. Hare and Naturalism

The Faith of a Jack Rabbit

The Faith of a Jack Rabbit

Some Epidemiological Observations on Tularemia in California 1927–1951

Summary A study of 266 authenticated cases of tularemia in California occurring from 1927–1951 showed that 81 per cent were contracted from wild rabbits. The jack rabbit appears to be more frequently involved than the cottontail, in contrast with the findings of Eastern writers. Other wild animals found infected were several species of ground squirrels and field mice, and in a few cases the brown rat. Infected arthropods found in California are chiefly ticks, although the role of rabbit fleas deserves further study, and possibly that of deerflies and horseflies. The incidence of tularemia in the decade 1933–1942 was 16 cases a year but it has declined during the last ten years to an average of 6 cases which may in part be due to decreased reporting by clinicians who now have an effective antibiotic at hand. The seasonal occurrence with its peak in summer is associated with rabbit hunting and arthropod vector activity, but there is no correlation with the legal hunting season of cottontail rabbits. Age and sex distributions reflect the opportunity of exposure to wild rabbits. Occupation, even that of butchers, who do not handle wild rabbits plays little or no part in the epidemiology. Cases occur mainly among sportsmen and housewives who dress and cook the game. The incidence of tularemia in California does not warrant its consideration as a major public health problem. An educational effort, particularly in the counties of greatest incidence, might help to prevent infection in hunters and their wives by teaching them how to avoid exposure when handling wild rabbits.

Control of Jack Rabbits and Prairie Dogs on Range Lands

Control of Jack Rabbits and Prairie Dogs on Range Lands

HENRY HUGHES: A FORGOTTEN POET

Therefore I intended to offer unto your Lordship some of your own Conceptions tun'd by my Notes; as also some others written by that rare Gentleman Mr. Henry Hare, your Lordship's most hopefull Son, who eminently expresses both your Lordship and your brother Mr. Nicholas Hare, whose Memory is still precious among all ingenuous Souls. But those I preserve for a fairer opportunity, and in this Book present you with Others Poetry, especially of Doctor Hughes, who was Author of all these Single Ayres, and of many others, stoln into the Press without my Consent as well as his. Such as they are I humbly bring them before your Lordship...

A Recent Record of an Albino Texas Jack Rabbit

A Recent Record of an Albino Texas Jack Rabbit

Jack Rabbits Experience a Population "High" in the Trans-Pecos Region, Texas

Journal Article Jack Rabbits Experience a Population “High” in the Trans-Pecos Region, Texas Get access Walter P. Taylor Walter P. Taylor Texas Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, College Station, Texas Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 29, Issue 2, May 1948, Pages 186–187, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/29.2.186-a Published: 01 May 1948 Article history Received: 12 August 1947 Published: 01 May 1948

Wild Rabbits as Reservoir Hosts of the Common Liver Fluke, Fasciola hepatica, in Southern Texas

Because of their wide distribution and susceptibility to the common liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, wild rabbits serve as an important reservoir host for this parasite in regions where it is prevalent. The importance of wild rabbits as reservoir hosts of the liver fluke has received little attention in this country. It is, therefore, the purpose of this article to review some of the significant literature on the r6le of wild rabbits as natural disseminators of the common liver fluke, and to report the results obtained from post-mortem examinations of a large number of jack rabbits, Lepus californicus merriami (Mearns) as. listed by Miller (1924), and cottontails, Sylvilagus floridanus subsp. (vide Miller, 1924), collected in the Gulf Coast region of Texas.

Coaction of Jack Rabbit, Cottontail, and Vegetation in a Mixed Prairie

The native prairie is one of the greatest natural resources in the Great Plains. In fact range land often furnishes a major portion of the farm income. How to keep ranges at a continuous maximum production and how to bring them back to this condition when they have deteriorated, are problems that confront most livestock producers in this region. Native prairie animals are doubtless important in maintaining the prairies in a climax condition. Research has furnished much information concerning the life history of most native prairie animals. But information concerning the extent to which the different prairie plants furnish food for native prairie animals is incomplete, also the part played by these animals in maintaining or regenerating the range is not fully known. In western Kansas several grasses appear early when natural revegetation is allowed to occur on barren areas. Among the first are sand dropseed, Texas crabgrass, and windmill grass. Just how these grasses make their entrance so quickly is not fully known. The present study is concerned with the activity of the jack rabbit (Lepus californicus melanotis Mearns) and the cotton tail (Sylvilagus floridanus mearnsi Allen) in relation to the utilization and dissemination of native plants in a mixed prairie near Hays, Kansas.

Growth, Developmental Food Requirements, and Breeding Activity of the California Jack Rabbit

Journal Article Growth, Developmental Food Requirements, and Breeding Activity of the California Jack Rabbit Get access Horace S. Haskell, Horace S. Haskell Department of Botany and Range Ecology, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Hudson G. Reynolds Hudson G. Reynolds Department of Botany and Range Ecology, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 28, Issue 2, 19 May 1947, Pages 129–136, https://doi.org/10.2307/1375454 Published: 19 May 1947

Review of Book: The Lady of the Hare

Review of Book: The Lady of the Hare

Droppings of Arizona and Antelope Jack Rabbits and the "Pellet Census"

The census is used to estimate relative numbers of rabbits under various ecological conditions. Taylor (1930), in Arizona, devised some of the early methods; like techniques served in studying vegetative types on the Santa Rita Range of southern Arizona by Vorhies and Taylor (1933). On the same area the relative grazing pressure by rabbits on protected and grazed plots was ascertained similarly (Taylor, et al., 1935). MacLulich (1937) differentiated between abundance and moderate scarcity of hares in Canada by pellet counts, and in the Great Plains regions, the effect of intensity of live stock grazing on rabbit abundance was determined in like manner by Phillips (1936) and Smith (1940). Pellet counts thus have been employed rather widely, but are limited to determining the relative numbers of rabbits.

SEARCH FOR SOURCES AND CARRIERS OF EQUINE ENCEPHALOMYELITIS VIRUS

Brains of 112 ground squirrels (Citellus richardsoni), 10 hawks, one burrowing owl, three pheasants, four crows, nine rats (eight Mus decumanus and one M. rattus) two wild ducks, two jack rabbits, three hens, three pigs, and two cats were examined for the presence of virus. Spleens of 15 ground squirrels and livers of three others, also spleens of five hawks and six rats were examined. Six assassin bugs (one Zelus audax and five Sinea diadema), 133 mosquitoes, 30 Stomoxys sp., 10 Tabanidae, 30 crickets, 64 grasshoppers, and 12 ticks (Dermacentor andersoni Stiles) were also examined in suitable sized lots.Two guinea pigs were injected with a suspension of each lot. If suspicious temperature reactions occurred, these animals were destroyed and suspensions of their brains were injected into other guinea pigs. All the injected animals that survived, regardless of whether or not they had shown any temperature reaction, were given a challenge inoculation of 25 M.L.D. of Western virus three weeks or longer after the first injection.Lot 21, consisting of two ground squirrel brains, was the only group to give any evidence suggestive of the presence of virus. Virus could not be isolated from this lot but temperatures of the injected guinea pigs, and subsequent resistance of the survivor to a challenge inoculation, were very suggestive of its presence. This is the second occasion on which results suggested the presence of virus in very small amount in ground squirrel brains.

The Dissemination of Prickly Pear Seed by Jack Rabbits1

The Dissemination of Prickly Pear Seed by Jack Rabbits¹

Dislike of Water by the California Jack Rabbit

Dislike of Water by the California Jack Rabbit