the Springmäuse or Springnager (not to confuse with the reindeer-mice occurring in the same habitat, who belong to the voles), over 40 types populate the dry-belts from North-Africa over Near east as far as after China as well. These tribal-historically still very "young" Nager adapted themselves to the extreme life-conditions in quite outstanding manner in the desert, semi-desert and dry-steppe. its organism is arranged on being able to survive long droughts without any water-reception. The water-demand then is met by body-fat from the food and through combustion exclusively. Furthermore the animals avoid the singeing midday-temperatures (sand-temperature at noon until 80 °C, air-temperature at the ground until 50 °C) through a mainly nightly way of life and rather spend the day in the bearable microclimate of its myself-dug Erdbauten.
Shape The Springmäuse are on desert and dry-steppe, in which the food-occurrences often are far scattered, tried at the open and extensive habitat also in the physique. Through the long, powerful jump-legs - with simultaneous decrease the front-legs and extension of the tail to a "Balancierstange" for the body now camped fore-load-y on the hind legs, gets this mouse, until almost eichhorngroßen Nager a kangaroo-good look.
The locomotion exclusively with the two hind legs, that bipede of jumping, the swift willpower of big distances to the one allows to visiting from food and to the others, amazingly up pace, particularly at the escape from enemies, as the sand-cat (Felis margarita), different fox-types like the Fennek (Fennecus zerda), the Blaßfuchs (Vulpes pallidus) or the Korsak (Alopex corsac) as well as above all night-griffins (owls). It is quite interesting, that a symbol was already with the old Egyptians the Springmaus for the speed, because the hieroglyphic for this concept shows the outline of such an animal. The adaptation goes so far, that the types of the Springmausgattungen Jaculus, Alactaga and Dipus can run at all no more on all four, these types also therefore stride slowly only on 2 feet. Let's examine the rear-foot of a Springmaus nearer, so we put usually solid that the metarsals merged to a common bone, the cannon-leg. The number of the toes varies between 3, 4 and 5 what is for the differentiation of the types of importance.
The Springmäuse with its often sand-colored blanket are on well tried at the habitat also color-like. The eyes and usually also the ears are notably big trained and give us already a clear indication of the nightly way of life. About the tail-end, we almost always find an Endquaste, that often knows, with black edge, signal-function (like the "lamp" of the hare) as the innerartlichen communication is colored and obviously has. Also the toes carry hair-tuft, that impedes sinking into the fine desert-sand.
Way of life The twilight - and night-active animals spend the day in its Erdbauten, that they from-scratch with the short front-leg-little with the aid of the low Nagezähne. During the day, the entrance of the building site with sand is blocked. At night, however, the Springmäuse plant-parts and roots, that they dig out, consume also insects and other small animals beside it. During short rain-periods, in which the desert begins to "live", the menu is especially extensive. In these times, it is necessary to gorge and to fatten so that fat is stored sufficiently for food-poor seasons.
Hibernation, dry-sleep In the northern and southern zones of its spread-area (the cold inner-Asian deserts like the Karakum or the hot middle Sahara), the Springmäuse hold a winter - as well as. Dry-sleep and outlasts the quite extreme seasons so.
Types By the over 30 types, only few are nearer examined until now. Especially, hardly anything is known over the reproduction.
Rauhfußspringmaus (Dipus sagitta)) This single type of its type is widespread from the Kaukasus to China and owes its name of the showy, brush-good Zehenbehaarung. it thinks a hibernation lasting over 4 months from November to March. The female usually throws 2 (rarely 3) throws on average 3 boys in the year after 25-30 days of Tragzeit. The manners is padded with from-plucked stomach and breast-hairs.
Wüstenspringmaus (Jaculus jaculus)) The actual Wüstenspringmaus is the most known representative of the type Wüstenspringmäuse (Jaculus). it is given a home in North-Africa, in the fore Orient and in the Iran. Eibl-Eibesfeldt could observe the combination-behavior with this Springmaus, that one can breed well in captivity. On this occasion the male pursues the female, you adjust the way, betrommelt it then delicately with the paws, now jumps around in the semicircle about it, with what it ducks strikingly and its partner finally asks for the taking of the combination-position.
Horse-jumpers (type Allactaga)) The horse-jumpers, who were spread also over Central Europe in the ice age-age, populate a wide spread-area of North-Africa as far as after China and Korea eastward. they are the biggest representatives of the family; the most known type (Allactaga sibirica) measures up to 44 cm, for example, from what however, 26 cm are allotted to the tail. They reach, dünnhäutigen ears of the horse-jumpers remind very much of hare-ears. Horse-jumpers can race so fast over the steppe that they are to be hardly shopped even to horse.
Further types Other Springmausarten are the South-Russian Erdhase (Allactagulus pygmaeus) and the tiny Zwergspringmäuse (types Cardiocranius and Salpingotus), under which the smallest form gains a head-torso-length of exactly 4 cm and that is the smallest rodent at all with it. With the Zwergspringmäusen, the metarsals didn't heal. The types of the type Pygeretmus carry a comparatively short tail serving as fat-storage. An especially showy Springmaus is the Riesenohrspringmaus (Euchoreutes naso) from North-China and the inner Mongolia, whose ears are three times as long as the head.
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