habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
Typically restricted to the hard soils of arid plains and pans, with a sparse cover of grass or low karroid shrubs, this species occurs throughout the Namib Desert, but is absent from soft, shifting dune sand (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). It is one of the few species that may be able to cope with degraded and modified landscapes. In Rolfontein Nature Reserve (Northern Cape Province) three specimens were caught in areas of short grass cover (Eragrostis truncate community) with hard calcareous soils (Jooste & Palmer 1982). To avoid the extreme temperatures in the region in which it occurs, these gerbils live in burrows and are nocturnal. The burrow systems are complicated and extensive with well-defined pathways between the burrow entrances (Rautenbach 1982). Despite this, they tend to be asocial and solitary (Nel 2013).This species is physiologically well-adapted to life in hot, arid conditions, as they produce highly concentrated urine to avoid water loss (Buffenstein et al. 1985; Grobler 1993), and have excellent thermoregulatory capabilities. For example, Grobler (1993) reported that at ambient temperatures of between 34°C and -5°C, they are able to sustain a normal body temperature of about 36°C. They are independent of free water and also store fat in their tails when conditions are good, resulting in some adults becoming very large (Nel 2013). Although mostly granivorous, on occasion they will also eat insects. Gerbils generally forage and feed up to 30 m from their burrows. Both sexes will hoard seeds (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). Food will be stored in burrows (larder-hoarding) and also at other locations within the home range (scatter-hoarding) (Nel 2013).
Unlike other rodents found in the same environment they breed year-round under favourable conditions, with a prolonged breeding period from March to September, probably due to the fact they are not dependent on water (Lovegrove 2004). Litters average 2â4 young after a gestation of about 21 days, and are weaned at about 33 days (Nel 2013).
Ecosystem and cultural services: Rodents are both predators and dispersers of plant seeds in the environment. Since these gerbils are hoarders, they may serve in a limited capacity as seed dispersers. Seeds taken into the burrows are likely to be consumed, but some of the seeds scatter-hoarded in caches or buried are often forgotten or abandoned, and if these escape other seed predators, they may germinate and establish seedlings (Nyiramana et al. 2011; Wang et al. 2012). This species is recognised as a major reservoir and vector of the bubonic plague, and resultantly plays a significant role in plague epidemiology in southern Africa (NICD 2005).
