The banner-tailed kangaroo rat (''Dipodomys spectabilis'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family

Heteromyidae Heteromyidae is a family of rodents consisting of kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice and spiny pocket mice. Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within the ...

. It is found in arid environments in the southwestern United States and Mexico where it lives in a burrow by day and forages for seeds and plant matter by night.

Description

The banner-tailed kangaroo rat can grow to a length of about . The dorsal surface is ochre-buff with some black-tipped hairs and the underparts are white. The species' most distinctive characteristic is the black-banded, white-tipped bushy tail which is waved like a banner. The hind legs of the kangaroo rat are much longer than its forelegs and locomotion is by hopping.

Distribution and habitat

The banner-tailed kangaroo rat is found in the southwestern United States and Mexico in two isolated populations. The range of the larger northern population includes arid parts of western

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, much of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and northern

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and the Mexican states of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

, Chihuahua and

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

. The southern population occurs mostly in the Mexican states of

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...

and

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí. It ...

. This kangaroo rat inhabits desert grassland with isolated scrubby bushes. It dies out of an area if the shrub cover increases to over 20%.

Behavior

The banner-tailed kangaroo rat is nocturnal and spends the day in a complex excavated burrow. On the surface, a characteristic mound develops as the animal digs and repairs tunnels, and removes old bedding, spoiled food and seed husks. The excavated material is ejected from one of several entrances and a mound builds up over time. Observations of a newly constructed tunnel system showed that a mound in diameter and high was created in about two years and that each burrow system is occupied by a single kangaroo rat. The silky pocket mouse (''Perognathus flavus'') sometimes shares a burrow with the banner-tailed kangaroo rat. The banner-tailed kangaroo rat feeds on seeds and other parts of plants, most notably grass seeds in the form of whole seed-heads. It caches surplus food in its burrow, and is the most assiduous hoarder among the kangaroo rats. In a research study where the rats were fitted with radio-tracking equipment, individuals had a home range of about which overlapped slightly with that of its neighbours. Kangaroo rats emerged from their burrows soon after sunset and bounded swiftly to feeding areas, foraged for two or three hours and then hurried back to its burrow where it remained. Another burst of activity occurred a couple of hours before dawn. The foodstuffs collected and carried in the cheek pouches were seed heads and grass tufts and were stored in layers in the burrow in chambers up to in diameter. The banner-tailed kangaroo rat uses foot-drumming in territorial defense, and makes a different foot-drumming signal when predators such as the gopher snake (''Pituophis melanolsucus'') are spotted. Foot-drumming seems not to be used to warn

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

s in adjoining ranges of danger, instead being used in parental care and to inform the

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

that its potential prey is alert, making the chances of successful predation low.

Status

The banner-tailed kangaroo rat has very specific habitat requirements and if threatened by invasion of the open desert grassland by creosote bush,

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

and other woody plants. It is common in some localities, but in general the population trend is downwards and the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

lists its conservation status as "

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q305280 Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rat Rodents of Mexico Rodents of the United States Mammals described in 1890 Taxa named by Clinton Hart Merriam Taxonomy articles created by Polbot