Lesser Egyptian Jerboa

Fascinating facts about the Lesser Egyptian Jerboa

• A jerboa's hind legs make up 40% of its entire body length, yet the animal itself weighs only 150 grams — about as much as a deck of cards. When threatened, it launches itself 2 metres into the air in a single bound, landing on a different foot each time to confuse predators who can't predict where it will touch down. This bouncing gait uses less energy than running, allowing a creature with a brain the size of a pea to out-think a jackal.
• To survive months in the Sahara without drinking a single drop, the lesser Egyptian jerboa has kidneys so efficient they concentrate urine to 15 times the strength of human urine. It also produces ultra-dry faeces and sweats almost nothing. Every seed it eats is extracted for maximum moisture, turning a jerboa into a living water-recycling system in a place where a litre of water may not fall for a year.
• The jerboa's ears are enormous relative to its body — nearly a third the size of its head — but they're not just for listening. These paper-thin flaps are honeycomb with blood vessels and act as radiators, dumping excess body heat into the cool desert night. Close them up and a jerboa loses its hearing; flatten them and it loses its air conditioning, which is why evolution gave it the option to do both.
• Jerboas are born blind, hairless, and helpless in underground burrows that can extend 3 metres deep with multiple exits and chambers. A mother nurses her litter for only 4 weeks before they're ejected into the desert to survive alone. Those that live past their first month are already masters of the Sahara's night shift, hunting insects by starlight with eyes adapted to see in near-total darkness.
• A lesser Egyptian jerboa's tail is longer than its entire head and body combined, but it's not there for balance — it's a fat storage organ and a gyroscope. During jumping, the tail whips in the opposite direction to the body, allowing mid-air turns that would snap a heavier animal's spine. It also leaves no footprint in sand, which means a predator tracking it finds only a sinuous tail mark, then nothing.

At a glance

About the Lesser Egyptian Jerboa

In the scorching deserts of North Africa, a tiny, enigmatic creature dances across the dunes, its oversized hind legs propelling it in great, effortless bounds. The Lesser Egyptian Jerboa is a master of evasion, its large, round eyes ever-vigilant for the predators that stalk this unforgiving landscape, as it darts and weaves with a hypnotic, almost ethereal, agility. As the sun dips below the horizon, the jerboa's nocturnal world comes alive, and it embarks on a frenzied quest for seeds and insects, its paws barely touching the sand as it skims across the desert floor with an otherworldly lightness.

Discover more wildlife