Blanford's jerboa (''Jaculus blanfordi'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

in the family

Dipodidae Jerboas (from ar, جربوع ') are hopping desert Rodent, rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia, and are members of the family Dipodidae. They tend to live in hot deserts. When chased, jerboas can run at up to . Some species are pre ...

. It is native to

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and is found in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Taxonomy

Blanford's jerboa was first described in 1884 by the British zoologist James Albert Murray, curator of the Karachi Museum and author of a number of books on the birds and mammals of the Indian subcontinent. He named it "''Jaculus blanfordi''" in honour of the British geologist and zoologist

William Thomas Blanford William Thomas Blanford (7 October 183223 June 1905) was an English geologist and naturalist. He is best remembered as the editor of a major series on ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma''. Biography Blanford was born ...

who was a member of the Indian Geological Survey and later published works on the fauna of India.

Distribution and habitat

Blanford's jerboa is native to Central Asia. Its range extends from Turkmenistan and Iran, through the Kyzyl Kum Desert and

Karakum Desert The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : "d ...

to central Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan. Its typical habitat is bare clayey or gravelly areas in deserts and other arid localities, but not sandy areas with dunes.

Behaviour

Blanford's jerboa is a solitary rodent and digs long tunnels in hard ground in which to live. It uses its

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, whe ...

s to loosen the soil, its fore-limbs for digging and pushing loose material under its body, its hind limbs to kick the soil backwards and its snout to ram loose soil. The tunnels are of three types; temporary short burrows with several entrances, several tunnels and a single chamber; breeding burrows with more and longer tunnels, more numerous entrances and a nest chamber at least below ground level; winter burrows with a single long tunnel, usually horizontal but with the single chamber some way beneath the ground surface. This jerboa feeds on seeds and such desert plants as ''

Artemisia aucheri Artemisia may refer to: People * Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece * Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...

'', ''

Anabasis aphylla ''Anabasis aphylla'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae, native to the region surrounding the Caspian Sea, Central Asia, and Xinjiang and western Gansu provinces of China. A many-branched shrub usually found growing in al ...

'' and ''

Peganum harmala ''Peganum harmala'', commonly called wild rue, Syrian rue, African rue, esfand or espand,Mahmoud OmidsalaEsfand: a common weed found in Persia, Central Asia, and the adjacent areasEncyclopedia Iranica Vol. VIII, Fasc. 6, pp. 583–584. Originall ...

'', and pieces of stem and leaf have been found inside burrows.

Status

Blanford's jerboa has a wide range and is presumed to have a large total population. In some areas, such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the species is thought to be in decline as some of its habitat is brought under cultivation. However, any decline in total population is small and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q681939

Blanford's jerboa Blanford's jerboa (''Jaculus blanfordi'') is a species of rodent in the family Dipodidae. It is native to Central Asia and is found in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Taxonomy Blanford's jerboa was first described in 1 ...

Mammals of Central Asia Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of Pakistan Fauna of Iran

Taxa named by James A. Murray (zoologist) Taxonomy articles created by Polbot