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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about jerboas. Be sure to hop on that sub button before leaving, and thank you to hamza omari for today’s request! Jerboas look like a cross between a mouse and a kangaroo, however, they aren’t related to the animals known as kangaroo mice at all. Like the sugar gliders and flying squirrels we’ve discussed previously, the similarities but lack of lineage between jerboas and kangaroo mice is an example of convergent evolution. There are technically other jumping mice, as well, but today we’re focusing on the ones commonly known as jerboas.

It would be unsurprising if you had never heard of jerboas before clicking on this video, because they’re considered relatively rare. It’s not necessarily that they have low populations, though there are claims that their populations are declining due to habitat loss and environmental shifts, but, really, they’re just elusive.

Jerboas live in northern Africa and central Asia and are almost strictly nocturnal, spending their days in underground burrows to stay cool and to avoid the eyes of watchful predators. Even if one was startled out of a burrow during the day, they can move at lightning speeds with their powerful back legs. This is actually their only means of defense in escaping animals that would otherwise eat them including foxes, ferrets, sand cats, owls, snakes, and weasels.

Jerboas move in what’s called a saltatorial manner, which basically means they jump using their hind legs. In a single leap, a jerboa can cover up to 10 feet (3 meters). If Chester could jump like a jerboa, he would be able to jump a little more than the length of the average semi-truck. Jerboas do have front legs, but those are mostly used for collecting food. The kind of food jerboas eat depends on the species. Some only eat plants, others eat mostly insects, many eat a combination of the two. Jerboas eat at night under the cover of darkness and may travel miles from their home burrow in search of food. They’ll have other burrows constructed within the area if they need to make a quick escape, but their means of locomotion are what allow them to traverse such large distances in a single night.

Jerboas are well built for living in sparse environments. They have fuzzy feet that give them traction while beep boppin’ along. They’re typically found in deserts - though, not like… super sandy deserts, more like, there’s maybe some rocks and shrubs and the ground’s kind of hard deserts. Of course, there are more than thirty species of jerboas, so their habitats can vary and do include mountainous regions, open fields, and dense loamy shrublands. No matter where they live, though, they do take dust baths, and that’s just freaking adorable.

The way jerboas go about mating is mostly unstudied because they’re so difficult to observe in the wild. It’s thought that the males of some species will fight each other over females, and it’s also likely that males will mate with multiple females. Females build nesting burrows and give birth to two to eight babies that she will nurse for at least a few weeks. Well, non-captive jerboas feed their babies anyway. Mother jerboas in captivity scorn their offspring and refuse to nourish them leaving them to die. The age of independence and reproductive maturity can vary between the species. One way to tell species’ apart is to look at the toes on their back feet. Some have five toes, others only have three! Though they all have super long tails. If they can bop and weave away from predators, jerboas may live to be three years old in the wild!

For more facts on jerboas, check out the links in the description! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!