Namib Dune Gerbil

About the Namib Dune Gerbil

The dune hairy-footed gerbil, or the Namib dune gerbil (Gerbillurus tytonis) is a species of rodent found only in Namibia. Its natural habitat is temperate desert where it lives in loose sand among sand dunes, feeding opportunistically on arthropods, seeds and green vegetation.

The dune hairy-footed gerbil is a moderate-sized Gerbillurus species with a head-and-body length of 99 mm (3.9 in) and a long tail. The head is narrow with a pointed muzzle, large eyes, and long, sparsely-haired ears. The upper parts of the head and body are a rich chestnut, sharply delineated from the underparts, which are white. There is a small white patch above each eye. The legs are white, the forelegs being much shorter than the hind legs. There are five toes on each foot, with the toes of the hind feet being long and flared. All the feet have well-furred soles and a distinctive fringe of hairs on each toe. The tail is very long, being chestnut above and white below, and tipped with a tuft of greyish hairs.

This gerbil is endemic to the deserts of western Namibia, where it occurs in areas with high or low sand dunes, and in dune hummocks. Its range consists... Wikipedia →