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Kangaroo rats (genus Dipodomys) are a group of burrowing North American rodents specialized for seed-eating. They are named for their hopping locomotion and have large hind feet, long tails, and short front limbs used mainly for gathering seeds, which are carried in fur-lined external cheek pouches (some of these photographs show very full pouches). All kangaroo rats closely resemble each other. This is the desert-dwelling Merriam's kangaroo rat (D. merriami), which lives in dry deserts in the American southwest. It's one of the smallest species, weighing 30-40 g as an adult. This one was at the Boyd Deep Canyon research station, near Palm Desert (Riverside County, California). Other K-rat species pictured on this site include: |
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