Well, yesterday we learned about the benefits of a huge nose!  Today, lets talk about an unique animal with large ears (the people that know me can keep their mouths shut about ear size!).

The long-eared jerboa is an incredibly interesting animal, however, little is known about this creature.  So let’s jump right in and start learning some facts! You don’t know it yet but there is a pun in the previous sentence.  You see the long-eared jerboa has long legs similar to that of a kangaroo. These little critters use these long legs to hop hop hop around all night (now do you see the pun in the previous sentence? Pretty clever eh??).  As well, you may have noticed that I said they hop around all night.  You are pretty observant!  The long-eared jerboa is a nocturnal animal that feeds mostly on insects.  So where is this rodent found? If you are interested in seeing these guys then you best take a trip to China or the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.  As you can imagine the impacts from humans in these areas are severely hurting the long-eared jerboa population.  In 2007 the long-eared jerboa was put on the Top 10 Focal Species as part of the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) project.  Hopefully, they will be able to learn more about this animal and develop a plan to ensure their survival.

All this and I still haven’t mentioned much about the ears!  Don’t worry, I didn’t forget.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned there is not a lot of information on the long-eared jerboa so the purpose of the large ears are not clear.  Although, there have been reports that they use their ears to pinpoint the location of flying insects at night.  Once they have their target they will spring into action with their long legs and have a nice yummy meal!

To learn more about the EDGE project or to find ways to help then I encourage you to check out http://www.edgeofexistence.org/index.php