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Kangaroo rats will store extra seeds in seed caches. [10] This caching behavior affects the rangeland and croplands where the animals live. [4] Kangaroo rats must harvest as much seed as possible in as little time as possible. [14] To conserve energy and water, they minimize their time away from their cool, dry burrows.
Kangaroo rats lose water mainly by evaporation during gas exchange, and so have developed a behavioural adaptation to prevent this loss. As they spend a lot of time within their burrows to escape the heat of the day, the burrows become much more humid than the air outside (due to evaporative loss).
A single Ord's kangaroo rat may make tens to hundreds of caches, each with tens to hundreds of seeds. [33] Kangaroo rats are physiologically adapted to arid environments. Most water is obtained from seeds and succulent plants. They drink water when it is available, but apparently do not require free water. [19] [34]
The kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice and pocket mice are adapted for life in deserts and other arid environments where they largely feed on dry seeds. Kangaroo rats have no need to drink because they are able to extract sufficient water from metabolising their food, obtaining half a gram of water from each gram of seeds eaten.
Phillips's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys phillipsii) is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. [3] It is endemic to Mexico.Its natural habitat is hot deserts. The species is named after John Phillips, an official of a Mexican mining company who sent zoological specimens, including the type specimen of this kangaroo rat, to the British Museum.
Dipodomyinae is a subfamily of heteromyid rodents, the kangaroo rats and mice. Dipodomyines, as implied by both their common and scientific names, are bipedal ; they also jump exceptionally well. Kangaroo rats and mice are native to desert and semidesert ecosystems of western North America from southern Canada to central Mexico .
Aurimys is an extinct genus of kangaroo rats from the Early Miocene of North America. They are known from a single specimen from a deposit in Oregon consisting of a nearly complete skull and jawbone, a partial hindfoot and a bone from the tail. It is both the earliest and largest known member of its subfamily, with the skull measuring ...
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).