Great Gerbil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Great Gerbil Fossil range: Late Pliocene - Recent |
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| Rhombomys opimus (Lichtenstein, 1823) |
The Great Gerbil is a large gerbil found throughout much of Central Asia.
[edit] Characteristics
The largest of the gerbils, Great Gerbils have a head and body length between 15-20cm. Their skulls are distinctive by having two grooves in each incisor. They have large front claws used for burrowing.
The burrows can be fairly extensive with separate chambers for nests and food storage. These animals spend considerably more time in the burrows during winter, but do not hibernate. They are predominantly diurnal. Food consists mostly of vegetable matter.
Great Gerbils are found in arid habitats, predominantly in sandy or clay deserts. They are found in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.
The animals are often colonial, with multiple individuals inhabiting a single burrow system. Longevity is 2-4 years.
Great Gerbils are known reservoirs of Yersinia the parasite that causes plague. They are also known as crop pests and have been implicated in exacerbating erosion.
Largely ignored in Western taxonmies of rodents, the Great Gerbils was recognized as a species separate from the common gerbil in the 1960s, after the work of the American zoologist Sarah Cheeseman, primarily because of their ability to host and transmit different bacteria and viruses.
[edit] References
- Baillie (1996). Rhombomys opimus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006.
- Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, London.
