🐭 Jerboas : mysterious desert rodents 🐭
This is a Jerboa. This little mouse-like rodent is found in arid environments, such as the deserts or steppes of eastern Europe, northern Africa and east Asia.
Jerboas are often described as "miniature kangaroos". Indeed, with their very long legs, short forelimbs and a rat-like tail, these small creatures are quite the surprising sight. #NatureIsTheGreatestShow Thanks to their impressive hind legs, these little animals can hop around at 25 kilometres per hour. When chased, they will employ a zig-zag trajectory to confuse their predator, jumping at a height of up to 1 meter vertically, and as far as 3 meter horizontally.
The Jerboa's powerful tail can be longer than their head and body: a perfect tool to keep their balance when bouncing. Another distinctive feature of the Jerboa is its large black eyes: they are particularly well adapted to a nocturnal lifestyle and give them an excellent night vision. And with the long whiskers, these are of good use when the Jerboa wants to navigate the dark of the night, or the tunnels it lives in. The approximately 33 species of jerboas recorded look fairly similar, but this one particularly stands out thanks to its... well... very large ears! We call them “long-eared Jerboas”. Hopping through the deserts across northern China and southern Mongolia, long-eared Jerboas have one of the largest ear-to-body ratios in the animal kingdom, with ears that can measure up to two-thirds of their bodies. A great way to live up to their name! This Jerboa's long ears actually act as an "organic" cooling system. As the climate in these regions can vary greatly, going from one extreme to the other. When temperatures rise, the blood moving through the ears allows the heat to dissipate from blood vessels across the skin, keeping this little rodent cool! Fascinating, isn’t it?
Fun fact, in the wild, Jerboas don't "drink" water. They get the moisture they need by munching on moist leaves, roots that they dig up, or by the insects they eat.
There is still a certain mystery surrounding Jerboas. Their nature of solitary, fearful and shy little animals, added to the remote environment in which they live, makes it very difficult to observe and study them in the wild.
[pics through Canva]
