User:Julia Rossi/Sandbox

Sandbox

for working things out

Biography edit notes

[1]

Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)

chronology pov: [2] see diff here[3]

adding to Persian Jird

Distribution

The Persian jird is found from eastern Turkey to Pakistan.

Habitat

The Persian jird lives in rocky environments such as mountain areas, up to a height of 3250 m. and favoured habitats are the rock fences between high agricultural grounds.

The mother will make a nest, building mainly between the boulders. If burrowing in an open landscape, their burrow is simple with several entrances and not deeper and less than a metre deepto accommodate their small family group.

Reproduction

Their gestation period is about 28 days, sometimes producing litters of up to ten pups, born in spring or summer. Persian jirds can reach an age of 6-7 years.

This information from http://www.gerbil.info/otherpersicusuk.htm.

Persian Jirds (Meriones persicus) are large relatives of the Mongolian gerbil commonly sold in pet shops. Persian Jirds are nocturnal with have large eyes and ears that are very sensitive to noise. These ears can move around in the direction that noise is coming from, or can be laid flat against the head against loud noise. They are very good climbers and their most obvious feature is the most beautiful tail that is about one and a half times as long as the body. It is used for balance when climbing and also for communication.

In the wild their distribution is Iran, Trancaucasia, Turkey, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Here is some information on the Persian Desert Basins where they live. They live in large colonies in rocky environments storing large amounts of seed and flowers in their rather basic burrows. The speed and grace of their movement and their love for live food such as meal worms suggests that they hunt small insects in the wild to supplement their diet. In the wild these colonies will self limit their breeding to what the environment can support. This useful in harsh environments because otherwise the colony can all starve because there are too many animals feeding from the food store in winter.

This hoarding behaviour has caused some small problem to archaeologists in their natural environment. There was quite a well-publicised theory of ritual Neanderthal Burial. The presence of large amounts of pollen of different species of plants in a soil sample from around Neanderthal skeleton was taken as evidence of deliberate ritual burial on a bed of flowers more than 50,000 years ago. However a recent theory concludes that this could be the work of colonies of Persian Jirds storing seeds and flowers in their burrows around the skeletons info from : http://www.erodent.co.uk/PersianJirdInfo.htm

The Persian jird is a warm agouti colour with a light/white underside divided by a distinct line. The nails are colourless and the hind feet soles are dark and hairless. Persian jirds are not as long as Shaw's Jirds from tip of nose to base of tail (at between 130-170 mm) but their tail is much longer adding up to 190 mm to their entire length. The tip of tail is covered with longer darker hairs.

Persians have long ears and big dark eyes (with a white spot above the eyes).

The Persian jird lives in a rocky environment and can be found in central/ east central Asia. Their burrows can be extensive with many entrances, though not usually deeper than 1 metre. They like to nest between boulders close to the surface and live in small family groups in the wild. info from : http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jean.wright93/pj/pj.htm

Adult weight : 0.1 kg (0.22 lbs)

Maximum longevity : 6 years

Gestation : 26 days

Weaning : 19 days

Litter size : 4

Weight at birth : 0.005 kg (0.011 lbs)

Order : Rodentia Suborder : Sciurognathi Family : Muridae Subfamily : Gerbillinae Species : Meriones persicus

Countries

Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan

Facts

"I found in a book a table with different Jird species' lengths, and here it says that Shaw's Jirds are around 14cm in length and Persian Jirds are 13-17cm in length with a tail of around 14-19cm long.

A Persian Jird is similar to a large Mongolian Gerbil.

Persian Jirds are nocturnal and h ave large eyes and ears that are very sensitive to noise.

Persian Jirds Persian jirds are not as long as Shaw's Jirds from tip of nose to base of tail (at between 130-170 mm) but their tail is much longer adding up to 190 mm to their entire length.

The active and nimble Persian Jird (Meriones persicus) is quickly gaining the popularity the Shaw’s Jird enjoys.

Persian jirds are very peaceful, fights almost never occur.

info from http://www.thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Rodentia/Muridae/Meriones/Meriones-persicus.html with lists and links to other Jirds.

Other stuff

Tbox:

Overfed.

♥ on mars [4]