So, along comes your first jackrabbit. . . but you don't know it is one, and assume it to be a cottontail. Once you've seen a jack baby next to a cottontail baby, you will NEVER make that mistake again. See photos under what you don't know can hurt them. . .

Cottontails have a natural camouflage coat of tan, brown, and sometime gray tones evenly distributed. Desert cottontails, Arizona's most common species, have a rusty patch at the nape of the neck and up the back of the skull. Their heads are narrow viewed from the front, and egg-shaped from the side. Jacks have much darker coats with black "marbling" and often facial streaks. They have a snub nose, dome-shaped head, tan rings around the eyes, and a ring of white around the muzzle. Blacktailed are the most common of the jackrabbits. They have black tips on the back of their ears and, when you flip the tail down, it has a black stripe that ends at the base of the spine. Whitetailed, Antelope, and the rare Whitesided are the three subspecies of jackrabbit.

Jackrabbits go through a dramatic physical change, becoming lean, muscular, angular; and those ears! They stand an average of half the length of the body. When lying down, the ears often reach the knees.

When estimating its age:

Jackrabbits are born with their eyes open, fully furred and able to run (precocial). Cottontails are born naked, blind, helpless (altricial).

The average weight for a newborn jack is 80-100 grams. This is the average weight of a 3-4 week old cottontail.

Jackrabbit mothers DO NOT DIG BURROWS. They separate their young, hiding them under dense vegetation. Cottontails venture out of a burrow or hidden nest and are on their own at around 5 weeks.

Supplying proper diet:

Jack babies have been known to nurse for up to 12 weeks (3 months) in the wild. But they do sample food from right under mom's nose as early as 3 days of age.

Cottontails eat solid food at 7-10 days of age when their eyes open and are weaned by approximately 3-4 weeks.

Social behavior (definite personality):

Jack babies and juveniles are very tolerant and will accept the presence of non-family, often grooming each other (even cottontails). Cottontails become "combative" and territorial.

Many jacks accept humans, often forming a bond, but DO NOT IMPRINT.