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Rare jerboa, thought to be nearly extinct, spotted in eastern Turkey
🇷🇸 Serbia /Environment & Climate

Rare jerboa, thought to be nearly extinct, spotted in eastern Turkey

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • A local resident found a rare Euphrates jerboa in Elazığ province while taking livestock to drink.
  • He initially mistook the animal for a rat, then sheltered it from the livestock and fed it corn and wheat.
  • The species appears on the IUCN Red List of threatened species and is known for moving by jumping like a miniature kangaroo.

A rare jerboa that Irfan Solak had never seen before appeared in eastern Turkey’s Elazığ province on Aug. 24. Solak found the animal while taking his livestock to a watering place.

At first, he thought it was a rat. He changed his mind when the small rodent began jumping like a kangaroo. Solak moved it to safety so the animals would not injure it, then took it home and fed it corn and wheat.

I had never seen a jerboa before.

— Irfan SolakSolak described his reaction after finding the animal.

He said he would return the jerboa to the wild after it recovered. The Euphrates jerboa is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species.

Jerboas are known for their distinctive jumping movement. They have long hind legs, very short front legs and long tails, and can survive without drinking water. The species lives in semi-deserts, dry lowland grasslands and hot deserts, and is found across parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria. It is only rarely seen in southeastern Turkey.

I will return it to nature when it recovers.

— Irfan SolakSolak said he planned to release the jerboa back into the wild.
About this summary

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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