So, being the good investigatory journalist that I am, (Zoolander? Anybody?) I decided to put the old Google-box to work. Lo and behold, I discovered that the pygmy jerboa is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s a whole bunch of different kinds of jerboas! They belong to the family Dipodidae, also known as the most awesome rodent family ever. Why? Two words: Bipedal jumping. Yup, that’s right. Cute little mouse-y things that can hop on two legs. Like kangaroos, but way smaller. And without that whole pouch thing, so not really like kangaroos at all.
Why did the Jerboa hop across the desert? To get away from the predator, of course. Or at least, that’s why scientists think that the animal moves the way it does. Jerboas live in deserts throughout Asia and northern Africa, and they have to cover a lot of ground to find food, the better to use long hind legs and big feet to hop with.
Jerboas, like many desert animals, are nocturnal. They burrow during the day to escape the hot sun. They actually create two different kinds of burrows: permanent, camouflaged burrows to hang out in during the day, and temporary ones to hide from predators in at night.
All jerboas have very long tails. African jerboas tend to have only three toes on their hind feet while Asian jerboas have five. They all have long, silky fur. Some jerboas have huge ears, like the Long-eared Jerboa, but some have regular ear-sized ears. Some jerboas are omnivores, but most are simply seed-and-nut-etarians.
Both the Five-toed Pygmy Jerboa and the Thick-tailed Pygmy Jerboa are considered to be at risk for extinction. And that is just not cool. Why, you ask? Because they are cute and weird and survive in the harshest climates in the world.
So what have we learned today? Nothing bad ever comes from Alex Trebek.
(I wrote this for Science Buzz)
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