habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
This species is typically restricted to areas of consolidated soils, bare gravel plains, dry river beds or shallow sand overlying gravels with scant vegetation (Perrin and Dempster 2013), in regions typically receiving less than 150 mm of rainfall. This gregarious species lives in sandy, complex (branched) burrows reaching depths of 1.5 m (Roberts 1951). Burrows are found in areas with fine surface gravel and constructed in mounds of loose soil around the base of bushes, especially Phaeoptilum spinosum and Rhigozum trichotomum (Downs 1989, Dempster et al. 1999, Skinner & Chimimba 2005). The vegetation provides a diet of insects, spiders, seeds and the leaves of grasses. A litter size of 3.4 (range 1â5) was recorded in captivity (Dempster and Perrin 1991). They are adapted to live in arid and hot environments (Perrin and Dempster 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. Additionally, this species is a valuable food source for small nocturnal carnivores and owls.
