Cheers, Big Ears!

December 10, 2007 4:25 AM

The first known film of the long-eared jerboa, an endangered Mongolian rodent with legs like a kangaroo, was released today by the owners of London Zoo. Previously
posted by chuckdarwin (28 comments total)

Big ears and hops like a kangaroo? That's just cute enough to make people want to save it. With a little luck Disney can animate one and make it a cause célèbre before it's too late.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:42 AM on December 10, 2007

That's cool footage. It looks strange, almost like an origami animal.
posted by Kattullus at 4:52 AM on December 10, 2007

Good god amighty, dem's some big ears!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:00 AM on December 10, 2007

Underground jerboa is listening to you masturbate.
posted by cashman at 5:40 AM on December 10, 2007 [5 favorites]

I'm kind of curious as to how their habitats are threatened. Generally the reason gerbils, jirds, and jerboas are classified as 'least concern' for conservation status is that they live in places humans can't. Rocky arid plateaus and the desert are the usual ranges.
posted by Ryvar at 5:53 AM on December 10, 2007

I'm kind of curious

Richard Gere is watching you equivocate.
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Totally cute, thanks!
posted by peacay at 6:25 AM on December 10, 2007 [2 favorites]

Bookmarked and added to list of potential products for exotic pet smuggling enterprise.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:43 AM on December 10, 2007 [4 favorites]

Big ears. "Jerboa". Mongolia. Rodent-aroo.

So much material and I can't think of a damned thing. Could someone post this later when I'm more awake?
posted by DU at 6:53 AM on December 10, 2007

The Spice must flow.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:56 AM on December 10, 2007

It immediately reminded me of the Kangaroo rat. ..sans giant ears.
posted by Atreides at 6:58 AM on December 10, 2007

Somewhere Sylvester is frantically running around with a bell on a string.
posted by jonmc at 7:21 AM on December 10, 2007

It immediaely reminded me of a wonderful poem called "The Jerboa" by Marianne Moore, which is nowhere easily accessible on the net. I spent a few minutes transcribing it, but now lack the HTML expertise to format it with its line breaks intact. (It's also fairly long, just under 200 lines.)
posted by cgc373 at 7:21 AM on December 10, 2007

Phinea T. Whoopee, you're the greatest!
posted by lodurr at 7:25 AM on December 10, 2007

I have one of these.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 7:33 AM on December 10, 2007

Kawaii, as the Japanese would say. They'd make great pets.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:38 AM on December 10, 2007

So cute! But did it see its shadow? I have a feeling this could be very important.
posted by inconsequentialist at 10:40 AM on December 10, 2007

...weren't these mentioned in the "Scurvy Dogs/Vampira" crossover?



I've wasted my life.
posted by 235w103 at 10:52 AM on December 10, 2007

For some unfathomable reason, I have a collection of Marianne Moore here in the office, but it doesn't have "The Jerboa." cgc373: Can you copy-and-paste us the first stanza, or ten or twelve lines? (Or the last?)
posted by steef at 10:53 AM on December 10, 2007

I'm kind of curious as to how their habitats are threatened.

"It is believed to be declining due to over grazing," says Dr. Jonathan Baillie, EDGE Programme Manager, in the second link.
posted by mumkin at 11:07 AM on December 10, 2007

That is 10 kilos of cute in a 25 gram package.

The ears are amazing enough, but that tail!
posted by rtha at 11:23 AM on December 10, 2007

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:33 AM on December 10, 2007

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

Someone photoshop us up a "Genghis Jerboa" to take over the world!
posted by XMLicious at 12:23 PM on December 10, 2007

Mmmm. Looks like good eatin'.
posted by spock at 12:24 PM on December 10, 2007

Goddamn, that's cute. I want to put one on a table and have it race a wind-up car. Am I alone in thinking this?
posted by kosher_jenny at 1:12 PM on December 10, 2007

CuteFilter: Way too adorable. Hopefully they can be saved.
posted by cmgonzalez at 2:45 PM on December 10, 2007

i want one
posted by Addiction at 3:21 AM on December 11, 2007

the cutes little bugger in da world!
posted by petersn1 at 3:54 PM on December 11, 2007

In other endangered species news: Push To Save Twain's Frogs: Environmentalists sue the Bush administration to restore habitat for CA's red-legged amphibian.
posted by homunculus at 12:58 AM on December 20, 2007