long eared jerboa

The first known film of the long-eared jerboa, an endangered Mongolian rodent with legs like a kangaroo, was released today by the owners of London Zoo.

The gerbil-sized mammal with outsize ears was filmed hopping about in the Gobi desert by scientists from the Edge programme, run by the Zoological Society of London, which highlights the plight of animals which are "evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered".

The long-eared jerboa (Euchoreutes naso), found in the deserts of Mongolia and China, is classed as endangered on the World Conservation Union's red list.

The nature of the threat is not well understood, but it has been suggested that it is due to habitat disturbance from mining activities, overgrazing and agriculture, as well as possibly climate change.

The introduction of the domestic cat has put further pressure on the mammal.

It is one of 10 species selected in the first year of the scheme because it was receiving little conservation attention.

All the Edge programme species are highly distinct genetically, with few close relatives, but are extremely endangered and need immediate action to save them from becoming extinct.

"The long-eared jerboa is a bit like the Mickey Mouse of the desert, cute and comic in equal measure," said Jonathan Baillie, ZSL head of field conservation and leader of the expedition to Mongolia.

"Unfortunately, this is just one of many amazing and unusual animals that are highly threatened but receiving little or no conservation attention."

The long-eared jerboa is a jumping rodent whose legs are specially adapted for hopping like a kangaroo and is easily recognised by ears which are about a third bigger than its head.

It is primarily a nocturnal, insect-eating animal which spends its daylight hours in underground tunnels.

Also on the red list are African vultures, Banggai cardinalfish, Bornean orangutan, Galápagos corals, Gharial, the Mauritius Echo parakeet, Sumatran orangutan, Western Lowland gorilla and the Yangtze River dolphin
Jerboa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Jerboa
Fossil range: Middle Miocene - Recent


Jaculus jaculus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Rodentia

Superfamily: Dipodoidea

Family: Dipodidae
Fischer de Waldheim, 1817

Genera
10 genera in 5 subfamilies

Jerboas are the members of the family Dipodidae; they are small jumping desert rodents of Asia and northern Africa that resemble mice with a long tufted tail and very long hind legs. The small forelegs are not used for locomotion. In general, Asiatic jerboas have five toes on their hind feet and African jerboas have three; the shapes of their ears vary widely between species. Jerboa fur is long, soft and silky. Diet varies considerably: some are specialist seed, insect, or plant eaters, others are omnivores.

The English word jerboa may have been derived from the similar sounding Arabic word jerbu'a (جربوع) or the Hebrew word yarboa (יַרְבּוֹעַ) which denote this animal.

The ancestors of the modern jerboas probably separated from the more generalised rodents about 8 million years ago on the arid plains of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and then spread to Europe and northern Africa. With the exception of Europe, where they died out, this remains their current range.

Their ability to hop is presumed to be an adaptation to help them escape from predators, and perhaps to assist with the longer journeys a desert-living animal must make to find food. Although jerboas are not closely related to the hopping mice of Australia or the kangaroo rats of North America, all three groups have evolved a similar set of adaptations to life in the deep desert.

Jerboas are nocturnal. During the heat of the day, they shelter in burrows. They create four separate types of burrow: two temporary, and two permanent. The temporary burrows are plain tubes: those used to escape from predators during the night are just 10 to 20 cm deep, unsealed and not camouflaged; the permanent daytime burrows are well-hidden and sealed with a plug of sand to keep heat out and moisture in, and are 20 to 50 cm long.

Permanent burrows are also sealed and camouflaged, and often have multiple entrances. They are much more elaborate structures with a nesting chamber. The winter burrows have food storage chambers 40 to 70 cm below ground level, and a hibernation chamber an astonishing 1.5 to 2.5 metres down.

Perhaps the best-known species is the Lesser Egyptian Jerboa (Jaculus jaculus) which occupies some of the most hostile deserts on the planet. It does not drink at all, relying on its food to provide enough moisture for survival. Found in both the sandy and stony deserts of north Africa, Arabia and Iran, this small creature estivates (a form of hibernation) during the hottest summer months, and has the ability to leap a full metre to escape a predator.

Two species are considered threatened: the Five-toed Pygmy Jerboa and the Thick-tailed Pygmy Jerboa, which are both classified as vulnerable (VU). Many other species have been placed in a "lower risk" category, and one species (Thomas's Pygmy Jerboa) lacks the data for assessment.


[edit] Classification