A long-tailed burrowing rodent related to the gerbils, found in deserts and steppes from North Africa to China.
Genus Meriones, family Muridae: several species, in particular M. unguiculatus, popular as a pet
Example sentencesExamples
- The jird is able to exploit low quality roughage and has a low energy requirement.
- Most bushy tail jirds welcome cage companions but they treat humans like part of their terrain to be explored.
- Tristram's jird is abundant in foothills and plateau of the Talysh.
- In the wild a male jird may mate up to 200 times in a single day.
- The Persian jird is resistant to infection by the plague whereas Tristram's jird is highly susceptible to plague infection and disease.
- The Shaw's jird is the most popular followed by the Sundevall jird and Libyan jird.
- Male jirds naturally spend most of their time above ground and can be housed in a cage or tank.
- Popular names are Mongolian gerbil and clawed jird.
- The Libyan jird for instance lives solitaire in Algeria, which is a type - 1 area, but lives in groups in Pakistan!