Jerboas | Dipodidae

Springmuizen | Jerbos

Desert rodents that travel on two legs. The hind legs are three to four times the length of the front pair, and in most species the middle metatarsals are fused into a single strong bone; beneath the toes stand brushes of stiff hair that grip loose sand and keep the foot from sinking. The tail is longer than the body and ends in a tuft: it balances the leap and props the animal up when it stands still. The eyes are large and the hearing chambers greatly enlarged, so that the faint sound of an approaching fox or owl is caught at a distance; escape is a series of long bounds in unpredictably changing directions. They do not drink, taking their water from seeds, roots and insects. By day the animal sits in a burrow whose entrance it plugs with sand from within; in cold or dry spells it sleeps there for long stretches.