I’ve tried so many times to tell you all, but at the last minute, I’ve always chickened out. But here it is: I like jerboas. I think they’re pretty neat. They’re my favorite burrowing animal.
I realize that in popular culture, there are many rumors and mistruths out there about what jerboas are and what they do. Perhaps an honest and frank discussion will help you to understand jerboas, and learn to live and work side-by-side with the jerboaphiles in your community. (Someone you know–perhaps someone you love–likes jerboas. There are more of us than most people guess.)
Jerboas are small burrowing animals that appear, at first glance, like a sort of mashup of a mouse and a kangaroo. There is a similar creature, the “kangaroo rat”, that shares many of its characteristics. Some people consider these names synonymous, but I do not believe this to be accurate.
Jerboas also have long hind legs, large ears, big eyes, and a very long, and frequently tufted tail. They look like a mammalian grasshopper, or something out of japanime. The long tail is particularly important because it helps the creature keep its balance and stability during flight.
You read that correctly. I wrote flight. We’ll circle back to that in a moment.
Most species of jerboas live in the desert. One of the most important issues facing diminutive desert denizens today is the prospect of becoming dinner for one of the less diminuative denizens. In the desert, this problem is exacerbated by the relative ease with which a predator can simply follow tracks and/or scent back to your burrow and then nom nom nom its way through you and your loved ones. If you cannot inspire fear and terror in your enemies, like the hamsters of yore, then you must find another way to survive. And several jerboa species have found a way.
Instead of walking up to the front doorstep of their burrows, leaving behind a trail any snack-seeking snack could follow, they pick spots several yards away to serve as their doorsteps. From these spots, using their enormous and powerful legs, they launch themselves into the air and, as gracefully as Guo Jingjing, follow a ballistic path that ends several inches inside their burrows (which are angled vertically in order to make this possible).
I have seen them doing this, and it’s nothing but net every time.
Of course, predators are not entirely dimwitted, and are perfectly capable of following a back trail, so the jerboas exit their burrows in exactly the same manner, often in rapid sequence. The burrow reminds one of a mouse-shooting submachine gun. During certain times of the day, when jerboas are both coming and going, the sky seems to be filled with them.
I was unable to find any clips on youtube of the creatures actually jumping. I’m not sure there would be much to see, anyway. They’re so small and so fast that they just sort of seem to dematerialize in one place and rematerialize a few yards away. But I did find some clips of this fellow, who some of you may find compelling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hyApZROWWQ
So, what’s your favorite creature?
