Duprasi gerbil, Doop, Fat-tailed jird, Fat-tailed rat, Beer mat gerbil
The Fat-tailed gerbil (Pachyuromys duprasi) is a medium-sized rodent belonging to subfamily Gerbillinae. It is the most docile species of the gerbil subfamily. Fat-tailed gerbils are frequently kept as pets.
Fat-tailed gerbils have a round and somewhat flattened body. The hair at the back and the head is yellow-colored, with a dark grey base and a small black tip. The belly is white. They have no clear neck and a very sharp face, with large oval-shaped black eyes. They look similar to a Dwarf hamster, but unlike a hamster, they have a pointed snout and a fat, almost bald, club-shaped tail. Fat-tailed gerbils store fat in their tail in the same way that the camels stores fat in their hump.
Fat-tailed gerbils are found in the Northern Sahara (North-western Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria). There they live in sparsely vegetated sand sheets, semi-deserts, or rocky deserts.
In the wild, Fat-tailed gerbils are solitary animals and sometimes live in colonies. They are usually active at dusk and live in simple burrows about one meter deep, in hard sandy soil. They may also occupy abandoned burrows of other animals. When they fight, they shriek loudly and bite each other's tails. Fat-tailed gerbils, like most other rodents, have scent glands on their stomach and mark their territory by stretching out and rubbing their bellies on the ground.
In the wild, Fat-tailed gerbils are mainly carnivorous (insectivorous), but they will also eat a variety of plants.
Little is known about the mating system of Fat-tailed gerbils. Their mating ritual is quiet unusual and may sometimes be confused with fighting. After the gestation period of 19-21 days, the female gives birth to a litter of 3 to 6 pups. The young are weaned at 3-4 weeks and become reproductively mature when they are around 2 months old.
Fat-tailed gerbils don’t face any major threats at present.
According to IUCN Red List, the Fat-tailed gerbil is common throughout its range but no overall population estimate is available. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are stable.
