Creature Feature: (Egyptian) Jerboa.

And now for something completely different:




Cute, isn't it? Coming from roughly the same region as several adorable geckos, jerboas are among the many cute animals adapted to the deserts of the Middle East and Africa. The family containing jerboas, Dipodidae, contains six subfamilies and several genera of cute, hopping rodents. They eat tubers and  The jerboa in the video looks like an Egyptian jerboa, so we shall settle on those for tonight. Just bear in mind that there are plenty of other varieties.



Jerboas are, in a nutshell, bipedal mice that live in desert areas. They are nocturnal and spend the sweltering days and months in burrows. During the hottest months, they aestivate (i.e. hibernate), not leaving their more complex burrow systems at all. These burrows can get up to 2.5 meters underground and usually have food storage and a nesting chamber.

When these little mice are active, however, they are VERY active. Jerboas spring about like bipedal mice on coffee. These little rodents can leap up to 3 meters to get away from predators or zig-zag to confuse them. Their tails allow for a very good sense of balance...plus, who can resist a rodent with a lion-like tuft on its tail? Everything about jerboas is not only functional, but adorable.

Oh, and by the way, being truly bipedal is rare in mammals. Even humans are not fully adapted to walking on two legs. Jerboas, however, are. Just look at the proportions on this jerboa skeleton; those legs are even longer, proportionately, than a kangaroo's! They can jump and walk, too! (Am I the only one thinking that giant rodent mounts could possibly dethrone the ratite mounts we're used to? You're DONE, chocobos!)



Although both the Lesser and Greater Egyptian Jerboas are probably pretty similar, the Lesser Egyptian Jerboa (Jaculus jaculus) is the king of desert survival. I keep saying, over and over, that desert animals need very little water. The Lesser Egyptian jerboa does not drink. Period. Every drop of water it needs comes from its food. It laughs at us for not only being not-quite-bipeds, but also needing that weird thing called water many times a day. Yeah, rodents will rule the world along with cockroaches and snakes.

But would you love it if it ruled the world, world, world?

 

Creature Feature: Microgecko.

As much as I love doing impersonal blog posts, sometimes, something cool comes up from real life and bitchslaps me. Then, because I love sharing such experiences, I write a blog post about that weird, obscure thing.

This was one of those things.

 

No, that is not a dish containing three baby geckos. Those are all adult microgeckos. They were only about half the length of my middle finger. Although beautiful, I could not take them home because they cost 350 dollars. That, and if one got out, there would be NO DOUBT AT ALL that it would either die in a vent or get eaten by a cat.

Alas, it was really, really hard to find another pic of that same exact gecko. There are several species of gecko called "microgecko." The name can be a little misleading. The microgeckos I met were particularly tiny 'microgeckos.' Some geckos commonly called microgeckos can get up to four inches long. They aren't quite what I saw, but still pretty small.

So, for now, let's focus on the geckos in the genus Tropiocolotes.  These geckos are all native to Northern Africa and get less than 2 inches in length. Again, that's the adult size.



These little geckos like it hot (80-95 degrees Farenheit). As with rosy boas, they are desert animals, so no humidity required. A small gecko like this eats small prey, so feed them crickets, which are widely available, or very small larval insects. The eggs are also tiny-tiny, able to fit many on a single cent. (Side-note: You know a lizard like this is not commonly kept when the care sheets for it are scattered about.)

I'm out of words to say about this lizard. There's not that much to say, despite them having a fair following. For now, just gawk at the sheer tiny cuteness that they possess.

Forgive my fangirling: かわいいですね〜！

P.S.- I love exotic pet stores. There was no way I could have known about these without the Chicago Reptile House.

Creature Feature: Sand Cat.

Face it: I belong in a zoo. This blog is nothing but animal rants, I know a million people I can talk to about exotic pets (i.e. stuff that most people think belongs in zoos), and it's been my childhood dream to be some sort of animal-related scientist. (Then I found that not being able to do math worth a crap put a dent in that dream, and became aware of the exotic pet industry. I now have a zoo in my room.)

When you see this face, you might want to work in a zoo, too:

No, that is not a stray cat that wandered into  zoo exhibit. It is a sand cat, Felis margarita. Despite the name, it is not native to Mexico; it lives in the deserts of Africa and the Middle East with some general range around Pakistan. It is related to the domesticated cat on the generic level only, and I will be DAMNED if somebody has not tried to interbreed the two. Whether they succeeded or not, I don't know, but the result would be adorable.


What you say about breeding?

Sand cats differ from domestic cats in many ways. Aside from being perpetually cute (those aren't babies up there), they have larger ears that can hear prey scurrying underground, sandy coats, and extra fur on their paws that protects their feet from the sand (or, in some cases, snow). These fuzzballs can survive both scorching hot and freezing cold temperatures. They also get all the water that they need from their food. Desert animals just roll that way; the fennec fox has similar adaptations. 



Warning: Do not attempt to keep these cats as pets. Although my usual "I want one" tendency kicked in around these guys, they do not live long in captivity, and are vanishing from the wild for a number of reasons. Habitat loss and general human encroachment (a dog can eat one of these guys, remember) are the main factors. (Sand cats are actually too cute for their own good - the exotic pet trade is one of their main threats.)  One would think that an animal that can survive the harshest of conditions would be well-suited to captivity, but unlike fennecs, budgerigars, rosy boas and bearded dragons, these guys do not make good pets.


Lick it, bitch! 

Then again, some people would say that regular cats are not domesticated, either.

Creature Feature: Antlion.

JESUS CHRIST IT'S AN ANTLION! GET IN THE CAR!

Wait a sec. Trapinch is an antlion? What the hell's an antlion, anyways? Some of us probably thought that it was some sort of dragonfly (darn Nintendo), but the real bug is far more awesome than any dragon. It's also a lot uglier than Trapinch:



The term "antlion" can refer to any member of the family Myrmeleontidae. The bug above does not look a thing like a lion, even if the jaws do look pretty damn vicious. It does however, eat ants...in a sinister fashion that probably makes most exterminators jealous:



Antlions make remarkably precise little sand traps to catch their prey. After making a circle, they begin to crawl backwards, digging a funnel into the sand. The trap is designed such that the angle of the sand is at a steepness called "the angle of repose" - that is, the steepest angle that the sand can maintain without having the pit collapse in on itself. All it takes is a gentle touch to make the trap do just that. Then, the ant is just a snap away from being dinner. Presto, instant meal brought to you by the wonders of physics!


For some reason, they also make bigger pits when the moon is full...which makes one wonder if antwolf would have perhaps been a more appropriate title.

The antlion is technically only the larval form of the insect. After it has dug a million sand pits and eaten a load of ants, it goes into a pupal stage. (No idea why Nintendo skipped that.) One month later, it emerges as an adult that looks quite a lot like a dragonfly or damselfly, but is not. Adult antlions are not as strong of fliers as dragonflies or damselflies, and can deliver a painful bite if touched on their drunken hunt for a mate.


This guy seems to be fine.

This makes one wonder about Flygon, though...a horny bug that can breathe fire. WE'RE SCREWED!