Fat sand rat
| Fat sand rat | ||||||||||||
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Fat sand rat ( Psammomys obesus ) |
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| Psammomys obesus | ||||||||||||
| Cretzschmar , 1828 |
The fat sand rat (also fat sand rat or sand gerbil ) ( Psammomys obesus ) is a rodent that occurs in the sandy deserts from Algeria to Saudi Arabia .
Skull ( Museum Wiesbaden Collection )
They reach a head-trunk length of 14 to 18.5 cm and a tail length of 12 to 15 cm and weigh 80 to 200 g. They are pronounced nutrition specialists and feed mainly on the leaves and stems of succulent, salty goosefoot plants (Daly & Daly 1973). When fed high-energy food, sand rats are prone to diabetes mellitus .
Sand rats are both diurnal and nocturnal .
Several times a year the females each bring 3 to 5 Boy in a specially dug construction to the world.
literature
- Martin Daly, Sandra Daly: On the feeding ecology of Psammomys obesus (Rodentia, Gerbillidae) in the wadi Saoura, Algeria. In: Mammalia. Vol. 37, No. 4, 1973, ISSN 0025-1461 , pp. 545-561, doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1973.37.4.545 .
- Martin Daly, Sandra Daly: Behavior of Psammomys obesus (Rodentia: Gerbillinae) in the Algerian Sahara. In: Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. Vol. 37, No. 3, 1975, ISSN 0044-3573 , pp. 298-321, doi : 10.1111 / j.1439-0310.1975.tb00882.x .
Web links
Commons : Psammomys obesus - collection of images, videos and audio files
- Psammomys obesus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Aulagnier, S. & Granjon, L., 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2013.