Yesterday, Saturday, I went to visit a friend in a nearby
major metro. They live in a 'burb and it still has some
open land. Between the development of townhouses
they live in and the next one is a strangely shaped piece
of grassed 'undeveloped' land. And full of prairie dogs.
I discovered this as I pulled up to park and looked over
the hood of my car into the eyes of a very gravid female
who was standing straight up and staring at my intrusion
via the big silver noisy thing.
At first she looked like an oversized gerbil! I realized
what she was a few seconds later as she turned to duck
into her burrow, then looked up at me again.
It was easy to determine she was within a day or so of
delivering a large litter, as all the nipples on her stomach
were quite distended as well as her being rather blimplike.
No these are not gophers or ground squirrels.
I found it rather interesting that I could determine her
status by my knowledge of gerbils....and other than
the tail, looked rather a lot like a huge argente gerbil.
I talked to my friend who grumbled and said the homeowner
associations had called about removing them and had
the city people come out and tell them forget that noise...
furthermore better not hit one.
Does anyone know if a jird is the same size as a
prairie dog?
Deb
Rebel's Rodent Ranch
