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The Jackalope

 Wet, Fuzzy, and Weird: 

The Jackalope

Rabbits with deer horns... What?

Where did the jackalope come from? You'd think that it was some folklore that then became a huge thing to do in taxidermy, but its confirmed start was actually a fun little hobby to make money. Douglas Herrick and his brother started crafting "jackalopes" in the 1930's, selling them to a local hotel in Wyoming. Through spreading these little creations to other companies once they were popular, the jackalope was easily spread across the United States. They are a staple of American hospitality and curiosity.

There is a possible underlying legend to the jackalope, but they aren't 100% confirmed to be connected to the ones the Herrick brothers created. Researchers and scientists connect the legend of the jackalope to Shope papilloma virus, in which creatures grown horn-like tumors from orifices of their bodies. Shope papilloma virus looks a lot different than the traditional jackalope, with many cone-shaped tumors sprouting from the head instead of two deer horns. 

Taxidermy of jackalopes has aged and grown over the years, with mounts becoming more realistic, more crazy, more mythical, and so on. Below is my favorite piece of "jackalope" taxidermy, done by MayJackalope on Twitter (link below).
https://twitter.com/MayJackalope

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