The tiny desert rodent that hops like a kangaroo and never drinks
This tiny desert rodent hops like a kangaroo and can leap ten times its own height.
Which one is REALLY true about the Jerboa?
The short version
The jerboa is a tiny desert rodent that bounds on long kangaroo-like hind legs, can spring up to ten times its body height to escape predators, uses huge ears to shed heat and a tufted tail to balance mid-leap, and almost never drinks — it gets all its water from seeds and plants.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Jerboa bounds across the sand on two long back legs, like a mouse-sized kangaroo.
- ✓The Jerboa can spring up to ten times its own body height in a single startled leap.
- ✓The Jerboa zigzags mid-air so unpredictably that most give up the chase.
- ✓The Jerboa dumps body heat through enormous ears that work like built-in radiators.
- ✓The Jerboa almost never drinks, pulling every drop of water it needs from the seeds and plants it eats.
You could line up about 12 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This tiny creature looks like someone glued a mouse, a kangaroo, and a pair of rabbit ears together. Meet the jerboa, a desert rodent that gets around by hopping on two long back legs, just like a miniature kangaroo. When it is startled, it can spring up to ten times its own body height in a single leap, and zigzag so fast that predators simply cannot keep up. Its enormous ears dump heat to keep it cool, and its long tufted tail works like a balancing pole in mid-air. Most amazing of all, a jerboa almost never drinks. It survives in some of the driest deserts on Earth by pulling every drop of water it needs straight from the seeds and plants it eats. Follow for more weird animal facts.
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“The Jerboa bounds across the sand on two long back legs, like a mouse-sized kangaroo.”
“The Jerboa is a metallic green insect barely half an inch long that hunts cockroaches many times its size.”
“The Jerboa can spring up to ten times its own body height in a single startled leap.”