Desert kangaroo rat
Dipodomys deserti
— Where the name comes from
Deserti, “of the desert”, is the most literal Latin genitive possible, and for once it is deserved: this species lives in the driest sands of North America, Death Valley and the Sonoran desert, where a few centimetres of rain fall a year. Dipodomys, “two-footed mouse”, describes the rest.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Rodents
- Habitat
- Sand dunes and deep sands with very sparse vegetation
- Range
- The deserts of the south-western United States and north-western Mexico
- Size
- 12–17 cm of body, tail 18–21 cm, 83–148 g
- Diet
- Seeds, dry leaves, shoots
- Lifespan
- 5 years
— Characteristics
- 01
It is the largest of the kangaroo rats and has an almost white coat.
- 02
It plugs the entrance of its burrow by day, keeping the cool and damp inside.
- 03
It carries seeds in its cheek pouches and leaves them to dry in underground larders.
— What sets it apart
Its larders are a machine for making water. The seeds it gathers are packed into underground chambers where the relative humidity is far higher than at the surface; the seed, being hygroscopic, takes up moisture and goes from four to thirty per cent water. The animal then eats it and draws from what seemed dry food most of its water requirement. It is irrigation in reverse: it does not bring water to the food, it brings the food to where the water is.
