These creatures of mysterious fancy delight me. I love to dwell in the space between their fakeness and their possibility, to swim through the foggy mist of uncertainty that surrounds every report about their existence. They represent the best parts of the world, the undiscovered countries, whatever's around the river bend. The people who follow them bristle with an enthusiasm which is lost to most by their fifteenth year. Here is my favorite:
THE NOBLE JACKALOPE
The jackalope is the original, the classic, the most quintessentially American of cryptids. It may surprise you, then, to learn that it has roots dating back to the Old World to the better part of a millennium, perhaps as far as Persia. A creature of woefully underappreciated majesty, the jackalope combines the savage dignity of the stag with the hirsute swiftness of the hare.
I have a special fondness for the jackalope for two main reasons. First, it has a relative simplicity compared to so many other cryptids, making it slightly less likely to be fake. Second, I can boast a geographical proximity to the Jackalope Research Institute, run by the alarmingly insane Bruce Larkin, who claims the title of the World's Foremost Jackalopoligist:
I have never visited the JRI, but it's so close, I think it's just a matter of time. The website has some very fascinating facts, and I will now excerpt some for you:
- Jackalopes will never establish themselves in Canada because they are allergic to poutine
- Jackalope antlers have a faint candy corn aroma.
- They only mate during thunderstorms on February 13th of leap years. (ok, me too)
- They are born and grow so quickly that they are often born on the same day as their great-grandparents.
- Jackalopes usually have 13 babies at a time; 6 babies of one gender and 7 of the other.
There are also jackalope poems! Jackalope jokes! Jackalope downloads!
Learn more about the noble jackalope. I dare you.
More cryptids to come.
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