More kangaroo rat facts!!! They are soo cute!
Description
The Kangaroo Rat would be described by most people as being cute. They have a plump, dumpy little body with large hind legs, large, dorsally placed eyes, and small rounded ears on a
Kangaroo Rats are pale in color with light pastel shades of tan, cream and off-white. There is usually a white band of fur that crosses the hips from the base of the tail.
Normal overall length averages 9 to 14 inches for the various species, the largest being Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rats (D. spectabilis).
The tail, always longer than the head and body, is covered with fur, and the end is tufted with longer hairs. The long tail undoubtedly acts as a balance when the animal is making long hops. The tracks of a hopping animal show only the marks of the hind feet and the tail.
Vocalization
Other noises banner tails are known to make are high pitched "peeee's," growls, squeaks, squeals, and chuckles
Tail
Long and bushy, up to 150% the head and body length
Ears
Kangaroo Rats have small ears that are hairless.
Eyes
Most Kangaroo Rats have large and luminous eyes.
Feet
Most Kangaroo Rats’ hind feet are large with hairy soles that aid in jumping in loose, soft sand. Hind feet are larger than front feet. Some species have 4 toes on hind feet, while others have 5. Short forefeet have strong claws for digging burrows.
Behavior
Kangaroo Rats are unique in the animal world because nature has provided them with the ability to survive with very little water and, in the deserts, with no free water at all. They do not store water in their bodies for future use like other animals, yet experiments have shown that their bodies have about the same water content as other animals.
In fact, they have the ability to convert the dry seeds they eat into water, and they neither sweat nor pant like other animals to keep cool. They also have specialized kidneys, which allow them to dispose of waste materials with very little output of water. In addition, they spend their days in their burrows where the air is moist and humid. Consequently, they can survive and be quite comfortable.
No matter how hot and dry it is outside their dens, Kangaroo Rats come out only at night when it is cool and when there is a minimum of evaporation.
Kangaroo Rats are solitary animals with a home range of less than one-half acre; the female's home territory is usually smaller than the males. They live in burrows they dig themselves. The burrows go into the ground at an angle, are 1.5 to 3 inches in diameter and shaped like an inverted U, though flat on the bottom.
Habitat
Most Kangaroo Rats occupy sandy to rocky soils in desert locations with little vegetation. Their burrows enter the ground at an angle. Dsome prefer with well-developed grasslands and scattered with heavier to support the bannertails' complex burrow systems.
Food & Hunting
Kangaroo Rats primary food is seeds -- mesquite, creosote bush, purslane, ocotillo, and grama grass have been found in their cheek pouches. Some species also eat grasses, succulents, other green vegetation and insects.
Most Kangaroo Rats gather seeds when they are available and cache (store) them for consumption later. Typically, caches are made in small pits on the surface of the soil, scattered over the home range of the individual. The small caches hold only the contents of two cheek pouches.
Breeding
Some species have 2 to 3 litters a year with 1 to 7 offspring, but usually 2 in a litter. At birth, young are toothless, hairless, wrinkled, eyes and ears are closed, and they show the color pattern of adults in shades of pink. Young males grow faster in terms of mass than young females .
As with most animals that have a high reproductive rate, they are short-lived. Some have lived for up to 5 years in captivity.
Conservation
The Kangaroo Rat's main defense against animal predation is its agility in leaping. Because they are nearly defenseless against their most efficient natural enemies -- Kit Fox and snakes -- predation takes a heavy toll. While they seem to be able to withstand natural predation, against man they have no defense.
