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A kangaroo rat narrowly escaping an attack by a Mohave rattlesnake. Kangaroo rats are a common prey items for many other desert animals. Typical predators of the Merriam's kangaroo rat include barn owls, great horned owls, coyotes, foxes, badgers, bobcats, and several snake species including sidewinders and glossy snakes.
Kangaroo rats, small mostly nocturnal rodents of genus Dipodomys, are native to arid areas of western North America.The common name derives from their bipedal form. They hop in a manner similar to the much larger kangaroo, but developed this mode of locomotion independently, like several other clades of rodents (e.g., dipodids and hopping mice).
Heteromyidae is a family of rodents consisting of kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice and spiny pocket mice.Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within the genus Heteromys are also found in forests and their range extends as far south as northern South America.
Dipodomyinae is the sister group of a Perognathinae-Heteromyinae clade; the two are estimated to have split about 22-24 million years ago.The most recent common ancestor of extant dipodomyines is thought to have lived 15-16 Ma ago, when the two genera split.
The San Bernardino kangaroo rat follows the same body plan as Dipodomys merriami and other kangaroo rat species: large hind feet for jumping, long tail for balance while jumping, cheek pouches for foraging, and so on. Its body is about 95 millimeters (3.7 inches) long, with a total length of 230–235 mm (9.1–9.3 in).
Merriam's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys merriami) Chisel-toothed kangaroo rat (Dipodomys microps) Ord's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ordii) Panamint kangaroo rat (Dipodomys panamintinus) Dark kangaroo mouse (Microdipodops megacephalus) Pale kangaroo mouse (Microdipodops pallidus) Little pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris) Great Basin pocket mouse ...
Banner-tailed kangaroo rat. The banner-tailed kangaroo rat can grow to a length of about 34 cm (13 in). The dorsal surface is ochre-buff with some black-tipped hairs and the underparts are white. The species' most distinctive characteristic is the black-banded, white-tipped bushy tail which is waved like a banner.
The desert kangaroo rat (Dipodomys deserti) is a rodent species in the family Heteromyidae that is found in desert areas of southwestern North America. [2] It is one of the large kangaroo rats , with a total length greater than 12 inches (300 mm) and a mass greater than 3.2 ounces (91 g).