Order: Rodentia

Family: Muridae

 

Size: up to 37-41 cm in length (head to tail).

Weight: up to 100-227 g.

 

Key Features: one of the largest species in the murid subfamily Gerbillinae. Colour ranges from reddish brown to fawn. Thick fur covers the body but the tail hair is sparse. A small tuft of black hair is found at the tip of the tail. The tail is approximately one half the body length of the animal and has a light brown band on each side. The soles of the feet are hairless and pigmented, as in other members of the genus Tatera, while the ears are also naked and elongated.

 

Breeding: It is not yet known whether mating occurs above or below ground in burrows. Duration of the estrous cycle was found to be 4.5 days in the laboratory. The gestation period ranges from 21 to 30 days, with litter size ranging from 1 to 10 young, with 5 to 6 being the most common number of young per litter.

 

Diet: diet consists of grasses, leaves, roots, and grains. They also eat grubs, insects, and nestling ground birds.

 

Habitat: prefer sandy plains and grasslands that allow extensive burrowing. They occupy almost any kind of habitat if there is enough suitable food and are found frequently near agricultural fields.

 

Habits: Indian gerbils are nocturnal and do not move far from their burrows. These gerbils live in loose communities with each burrow occupied by a single gerbil, except when young are present. Home ranges of individuals overlap extensively. These gerbils do not venture far from their burrows. The burrow system is of a simple 'Y' shape with two surface openings.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Distribution in the GoK: reported along the coast of Gulf of Kachchh.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Tatera indica. In Animal Diversity Web, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. Retrieved on July 15, 2014 from http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Tatera_indica/

 

IUCN Red List. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21514/0