Around here we are all pretty familiar with the Jackalope.

After all, Douglas, Wyoming IS the official Jackalope capital of the world.

They even have the world's largest statue of a Jackalope and if that's not some major street cred I don't know what is.

It makes sense that Douglas is the center of all things to do with the Jackalope.

Two brothers living in Douglas, Wyoming in the 1930's first came up with the idea of a Jackalope while messing around in their taxidermy studio one day.

The tall tale began to spread and now, mounted Jackalopes can be found across much of the Western and Southern United States.

Thousands of children and tourists through the years have been told to watch out for the tricky critters, and many have even been invited on a hunt. The town of Douglas even sells Jackalope hunting licenses to help give your story a bit more of an authentic feel.

But, did you know that there is actually a long history of Jackelope sightings that goes back into ancient history?

I came across this video on YouTube and was fascinated with all the new tidbits of Jackalope history I learned.

For example, did you know they've come across drawings of a Jackalope like creature in Persian artwork from the 1200s?

Here are a few of my favorite nuggets of knowledge from the video.

  • There is a famous painting from 1509 that pictures a rabbit with horns, wings, AND fangs!
  • In the 1700s a rabbit-like creature (that sounds like it closely resembled a Jackalope) was thought to be discovered, and given a scientific name...but they revoked it a few years later.
  • An episode of Scooby Doo features a Jackalope, so they MUST be real.

Did you notice the one mistake in the video?

When they were talking about Antelope they put up a picture of an African species...not the Pronghorn Antelope we know and love around here.

We'll let them get away with it because I'm sure that was the only mistake they made ;)

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