Family dipodids Dipodidae

Diplodids are easily distinguished by their very long hind legs and huge ears. They also have very long tails, often topped with a tuft; the tail is used for balancing and as a rudder. Jerboas move by making long leaps and are able to make steep turns at full speed. The speed of their movements allows them to forage far from their nests so the jerboas are able to find food in most barren deserts where other rodents can hardly survive. These alert animals need high-energy nutrition and therefore eat high-caloric foods including seeds, bulbs, and insects but they also feed on green parts of plants. Jerboas are active in the night and spend daytime in the burrows. The jerboa starts building a burrow with digging an incline passage and throwing the soil off the passage. Then it seals the passage and digs an exit from the inside of the burrow. The burrow has a sleeping chamber located deep under ground, and an escape exit built immediately under the ground. The entrance is usually plugged and sometimes disguised. If the burrow is discovered, the jerboa would knock off the ground from the escape exit and flee. Usually each jerboa builds several burrows within its home territory and uses them in turn, staying in each of them for a few days. Besides, these animals have “emergency” burrows where the jerboas hide in case of danger. The burrow passages often have deep turns which help to confuse predators that are trying to dig in the burrow. Jerboas typically hibernate in the deep burrows during the winter; they do not store food for winter time. Prior to the birth of offspring, females build nests, lining them with dry grass, fur, or rags. After gestation period of about one month, they give birth to 2 to 8 offspring. Young jerboas stay with their mother till the age of 1.5 months and reach sexual maturity in the second year of life.