File: Salt, Mineral & 
Grit Req. folder 
- -    Jackrabbit folder 
Extracts from "The Life Histories and Ecology of Jack Rabbits in 
Relation to Grazing in Arizona" by C. T. Vorhies and W. P. Taylor. 
Tech. Bull. No. 49, May 31, 1933, Univ         of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

p. 541: "Goldman gives reports by natives in the vicinity of Camargo,

Tamaulipas, January 4-29, 1902, that L      califorr-icus 
merriami in that vicinity sometimes fed on the carcasses of dead 
horses. An American resident assured him that in Lafayette 
County, Texas, they were known as horse rabbits on account of 
this habit. 
"Insect remains occur infrequently in rabbit stomachs." 
"At the United States Rabbit Experiment Station, Fontana, 
California, a spool of salt and sulfur is regularly hung in the 
cages in which domestic rabbits are kept. The rabbits lick 
or even eat this material. Rabbits have been found to consume 
more food which has been salted than food that has not. A 
rabbit consumes more salt when molting than at other times. 
It is likely that wild hares must also secure acertain amount 
of mineral matter for the maintenance of their health." 
p. 542i    "For several years we have observed a rabbit "lick"
on the 
southwest slope of one of the red hills north of Plot IA on the 
Santa Rita Range (Plate l0,C). Rabbits, mostly alleni, are 
numerous in this neighborhood. The animals have dug or bitten 
into the dark red earth, and fecal pellets are abundant. 
Analysis of t}he soil of this "lick" has not shown any salt or

saline constituents. Many rabbit pellets found nearby are so 
coated with red earth as to resemble little red balls of mud. 
Breaiking the pellet shows that the red earth is a surface 
coating over the remains of vegetation normally present." 
"Gravel or sand was recorded in 26 out of 61 stomachs of 
californicus and in 97 out of 179 of alleni. The material was 
found in stomachs collected from April to October."