What is a Jerboa?
There are about 25 jerboa species, 22 of them in Asia. They are classified:
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Rodentia
- Sudorder: Sciurognathi
- Family: Dipodidae
- Subfamily: Dipodinae
- Genus: Jaculus
A Jerboa is a rat-like mammal that lives in the deserts of Africa, Asia, and South-East Europe. It is similar to the kangaroo rat (Although completely unrelated) in that it has large hind legs that it can use to leap faster than a person can run, and a single leap may carry it more than 6 ft (1.8 m) and 2.25m high. The hind legs are approximately four times longer than its fore arms that are positioned near the head and used for burrowing and eating. It body is approximately 6 inches long, but its tail is approximately. another 8 inches. Its colour is a tawny yellow, something like that of dried lemon-peel. Its fur is very smooth and soft; its eyes are full and round, and its head is much like that of a young rabbit. When it eats, it sits and holds its food in its forepaws, very much as a squirrel does. The two main European species are often kept as pets and are closely related to the gerbil.
What species are there?
There are 5 main subgroups to the subfamily 'Jaculus'. Theses are; Jaculus lichtensteini, Jaculus jaculus, Jaculus blanfordi, Jaculus orientalis and Jaculus turcmenicus. Under these there are about 25 species:
Jaculus jaculus elbaensist
Jaculus jaculus flavillust
Jaculus jaculus whitchurchi
Jaculus jaculus cufrensis
Jaculus jaculus collinsi
Jaculus deserti vastus
Jaculus deserti rarus
Jaculus deserti fuscipes
Jaculus jaculus arenaceous
Jaculus jaculus tripolitanicus
Jaculus schlueteri
Jaculus vocator
Forentiae
Oralis
Syrius
Jaculus loftusi
Jaculus favonicus
Jaculus airensis
Jaculus butleri
Jaculus gordoni
Jaculus vulturnus
Scirtopoda lichtensteini
Dipus blanfordi
Jaculus orientalis
Jaculus turcmenicus
What features does it have that help it in its environment?
The extraordinary leap of the Jerboa helps it to escape the jaws of hungry predators as well as enabling it to keep little contact with the burning sands of the deserts in which it lives. The three main, centre, foot bones have fused into one large 'Canon Bone' which is extra strong enabling the Jerboa to propel itself further with less risk of injury after reintroducing itself with the ground. Jerboas also have tufts of hair on the undersides of their hind feet to stop them slipping on soft sand and help them kick sand backwards when they burrow.
Where do Jerboas live?
Jerboas live in tunnels that they create by moving sand using their blunt heads and strong noses to create tunnels that can be between 1.5 – 2.5 meters long. These tunnels, which they build as there home, have only one entrance but several exits. They often create emergency exits that consist of an exit lightly plugged up with sand so that it can force its way out in an emergency. In the summer however they may block up all of the entrances and exits to its burrow with up to 50cm of sand. This is believed to be to prevent snakes and warm air from getting in, keeping the burrow cool and safe.
What's a Jerboas life like?
Solitary, nocturnal animals, with a low tolerance for heat, jerboas spend the day in individual burrows with plugged entrances. In the northern parts of their range they hibernate. They feed on plant matter, especially seeds, and insects. Possibly the most outstanding feature of the Jerboa is that they do not drink, but survive on water obtained from food or produced by their own metabolism. Some people also believe that it recycle the moisture from it’s own breath. The jerboa eat mainly leaves and sprouting vegetation when they are available but otherwise live off roots, seeds, and grains.
How do they reproduce?
The gestation period of the species varies but the average is about forty days. They give birth to three to four altricial young (- young that are hatched or born in a very immature and helpless condition so as to require care for some time) one to three times a year.
Where would I have come across a Jerboa before (not in my backyard surely?)?
You probably haven't seen one but you may well have read about them; You will not find the name of the Jerboa directly but it is supposed to be the animal called a mouse in the Bible (17th verse of the 66th chapter of Isaiah), "They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord;" and also in Leviticus, where God is telling the children of Israel what animals they must not eat, "These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind." As well as this the 7th Armoured Brigade, which went to Burma and called themselves the "jungle
rats", had a green jerboa in a red circlet on a white background as thier flag and emblem.
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