Jerboa

Today Ivor is an Egyptian jerboa. A small hopping rodent, Ivor lives in the hot African deserts. He looks like a cross between a mouse and a kangaroo, with long hind legs for hopping, small forelegs, and a long tufted tail for balance. He can jump rather far for something so little - over a meter - to escape a predator. Adapted to desert life, he doesn't even need to drink water, obtaining all his moisture from food (unless, of course, it's dry food). To avoid the heat, he only leaves his burrow at night and "estivates" (a form of hibernation that takes place during the summer) during the hottest summer months.

Today is so hot that Ivor is estivating. This sadly means that he stayed home today, and is not around to say hi to us. We wish we were estivating too, but we're not jerboas.