Gerbil
Fast facts
- Conservation status
- Least concern
- Genus
- Meriones
- Species
- unguiculatus
Scientific name
- Scientific name
- Meriones unguiculatus
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Mongolian gerbil” page and Wikispecies (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Gerbils are a family of rodents. There are about 110 species of gerbils. All gerbils are adapted to arid habitats. At one time, gerbils were known as wild rats. Most gerbils are diurnal, some are crepuscular. The gerbil is native to Central Asia, India, the Middle East, and Africa. The average length of a gerbil is usually between six and twelve inches, this includes the tail which makes up one half of the total length. The gerbil is also a common household pet.
Species of gerbil include:
- Fat-tailed gerbil, whose tail gets bigger when it eats.
- Great gerbil, the biggest type of gerbil
The Mongolian gerbil is one of around 110 species, but it is the most popular to have for a pet. The Mongolian gerbil was discovered in 1800 but was not studied until 1866. All domestic gerbils come from just a few gerbils from 1930.
A gerbil is smaller than a rat but bigger than a mouse. It depends on the species. From just mice and rats the gerbil has a tail with hair and it ends with a tassel. A gerbil is around 5-6 inches long but with the tail it is around 11-12 inches. There are also bigger gerbils like the Great gerbil who has a 7-8 inches long body and 7-8 inches long tail.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Gerbil” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
Worksheets, answer keys and printable layouts elsewhere on K5Print are our own work and are not covered by this licence.