IN A RECENT DISUSSION ABOUT THE STATES I HAVE BEEN TO IN MY LIFE, THE DAKOTAS POPPED UP AND IF ONE HAS EVER BEEN TO THAT REGION OF THE U.S IT IS HARD TO FORGET THE BILLBOARDS THAT GREET, THEN BOMBARD WESTWARD TRAVELLERS AS THEY CROSS THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI. BECKONING THEM TO JOURNEY NORTH, NORTH TO SOUTH DAKOTA WHERE THE THE ICE WATER IS FREE THE JACKALOPES RUN AMOK... OK OK THEY DONT REALLY RUN AMOK.... BUT YOU CAN RIDE ONE..... EVEN IF IT IS A FIBERGLASS RENDITION OF THE JOHNNY COME LATELY ADDITION TO THE CRYPTID FAMILY.
EVEN IF I DIDNT KNOW IT THEN, THAT WAS ONE OF MY FIRST EXPERIENCES WITH A THING CALLED CRYPTO TAXIDERMY THAT LEFT ME SCRATCHING MY HEAD AND WONDERING IF WHAT I WAS LOOKING AT WAS AN ACTUAL ANIMAL. I MEAN AFTERALL, THERE IT WAS IN THE FLESH (SO TO SPEAK). I COULD SEE IT.. TOUCH IT... PET IT... HUG IT... AND THEN I BEGGED MY FATHER TO BUY ONE FOR ME BECAUSE IT WAS UNLIKE ANYTHING I HAD EVER SEEN WITH MY OWN TWO EYES AND BESIDES IT WAS KIND OF CUTE... ADMIT IT EVERYONE OF YOU WANT ONE... OR DID AT ONE POINT IN YOUR LIFE.
BUT WAS THIS CREATURE AN ACTUAL ANIMAL? BEFORE THIS, MY KNOWLEDGE OF CRYPTOZOOLOGY WAS LMITED TO THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN FOUND IN ONE OF THE CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOKS. I ASKED MY FATHER IF THERE WAS SUCH A THING AS A JACKALOPE, AND AS USUAL ... HE WAS NO HELP. HE WOULD RATHER LET ME MAKE A FOOL OF MYSELF SO HE COULD HAVE A GOOD LAUGH RATHER THAN TELL ME IF IT WAS REAL OR NOT. THE FOLLOWING FALL I TOLD MY CLASSMATES ALL ABOUT THE JACKALOPE, THEY JUST LOOKED AT ME AS IF I HAD LOST MY MIND... A RABBIT... WITH ANTLERS...NO SUCH THING COULD EVER EXIST. ... OR COULD IT?
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IN 1788, AN ENCYCLOPEDIA THAT WAS A FIRST OF ITS KIND ENTITLED (FOR ALL THOSE FLUENT IN FRENCH)... TABLEAU ENYCLOPEDIQUE ET METHODIQUE DES TROIS REGNES DE LA NATURE ...INCLUDED AN ENGRAVING OF NONOTHER THAN WHAT APPEARS TO BE A RABBIT WITH ANTLERS. THIS WASNT A BOOK THAT WAS KNOWN FOR ITS FLIGHTS OF FANCY... IN FACT IT WAS NOTED FOR ITS WELL DOCUMENTED SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTONS OF PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND MINERALS... AND ITS ENGRAVINGS. BUT AGAIN.. A RABBIT WITH ANTLERS? PERHAPS THE ARTIST WAS MISTAKEN.. OR PERHAPS HE GOT IT RIGHT.... AND WRONG AT THE SAME TIME.
RABBITS ARE PRONE TO A VIRUS CALLED SHOPES PAPILLOMA VIRUS. THIS PARTICULAR STRAND OF OF THE PAPILLOMA VIRUS CAUSES KERITONOUS GROWTHS AROUND THE RABBIT'S HEAD THAT CAN GIVE THE ILLUSION THAT THE ANIMALS ACTAULLY HAS ANTLERS. SO... PERHAPS WHOEVER OBSERVED THE RABBIT THAT MADE IT INTO THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OBSERVED A VERY TYPICAL RABBIT WITH AN ATYPICAL DISEASE. IF THIS WERE TO HAPPEN IN WHAT SEEMS LIKE A ONE IN A MILLION OCCURANCES... THEN IT ISNT SO FAR FETCHED THAT THE PLAINS OF THE AMERICAN MIDWEST HARBOR HUNDERED IF NOT THOUSANDS OF RABBITS WITH THESE MALFORMATIONS. WHICH WOULD MAKE THEM FODDER FOR TOURISTS TRAPS THAT DOT THE LANDSCAPE.. SUCH AS WALL DRUG.... AND INJECT THESE "NEW FOUND" CRITTERS INTO THE MYTHOLOGY THAT IS THE GREAT AMERICAN WEST.
Subject: THE JACKALOPE 