jerboa

plural jerboas

1. Any of a number of species comprising the family Dipodidae, native to the deserts of Asia and northern Africa, being a small, jumping rodent with a long tufted tail, very small forefeet and very long hind legs.

   Hopping along like a tiny kangaroo, the jerboa, a desert rat, has the largest ears of any animal compared to its body size. The ears alone make up two fifths of the body length.

   2026, Tom Jackson, How Big is That: A Life-Size Guide to the Animal Kingdom, page 15

   3 more examples

   The Arabs, who are forbidden all other kinds of mice, esteem these the greatest delicacies: as those people often are disappointed in digging after them, they have this proverb, "To buy a hole instead of a jerboa."

   1814, Augustin Calmet, Charles Taylor, Edward Wells, Calmet's Great Dictionary of the Holy Bible, page 293

   The permanent burrows may have emergency exits — side tunnels ending at or near the surface — through which the jerboa "bursts" when threatened by a predator. Jerboas often lie on their side when sleeping in the burrow in order to better accommodate their long legs.

   1999, Ronald M. Nowak, editor, Rodentia; Family Dipopidae: Birch Mice, Jumping Mice, and Jerboas: Walker's Mammals of the World, volume 1, page 1329

   The small mammals include typical desert forms such as the burrowing rodents of the jerboa family and the jird or gerbil subfamily. The jerboas, which are widespread across northern Africa and central Asia, are particularly well represented in China: 7 of the 10 genera and 10 of the 29 species occur in the arid, often cold deserts of the north and west.

   2001, Peter Haggett, editor, China and Taiwan: Animal Life: Desert, River and Forest Specialists: Encyclopedia of World Geography, volume 24, page 2796

   Synonyms: dipodid