The Guinean gerbil (''Gerbilliscus guineae'') 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 ...
found in
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 今云仇五仆丐 丐之亢, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
,
Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, 媞塈堥塈 officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
,
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 五仆井, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, 葶舝葖, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: R矇publique de Guin矇e), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
,
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guin矇-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 五仆井 五之丐仃亢, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, Rep繳blica da Guin矇-Bissau, links=no ) ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as C繫te d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of C繫te d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
,
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 井仆不丐仆不五 丐中五, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, 堿堭堜 塈, Jumh贖riyyt Ml蘋 is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
,
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 井仆井內丐中五 (Senegaali); Arabic: 塈堻媞塈 ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''R矇ewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 井仆不丐仆不五 ...
,
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
, and possibly
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to LiberiaSierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
. Its natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s are subtropical or tropical dry
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
s, dry
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
, rocky areas and
arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the ...
, but it is mostly found in areas laterite or clay soils, and with variable amounts of vegetation and dense scrub.
[ This species is described as common and has a stable population and a wide distribution, so 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 rated 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 ...
".
Description
The Guinean gerbil is a fairly large gerbil growing to a head-and-body length of about with a tail of about . The head has a slightly-rounded snout, large eyes and somewhat elongated ears. The upper parts of the body are greyish-brown, the individual hairs having dark grey bases, orange or brown shafts and black tips. The head and flanks are paler, the hairs lacking dark tips. The underparts, including the chin, throat, the inside of the limbs, the fore-feet and the upper side of the hind-feet are white. There is a clear division between the dorsal and ventral colouring. The tail is well-haired and bicoloured, being dark above and pale beneath, with a tuft of long dark hairs at the tip.
Ecology
The Guinean gerbil is nocturnal. It excavates a fairly complex burrow system that goes as deep as . The average size of the home range of the Guinean gerbil is . Little is known about the animal's diet. In western Senegal, breeding takes place in the wet season and continues into the dry season. Litter sizes average four or five.[
]
Status
References
*Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 8941531 ''in'' Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1768439
Gerbilliscus
Mammals described in 1910
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot