Video: Scientists Wowed By Hopping Jerboa

An UPDATE to our September 19, 2007 post about the four-toed jerboa.

The Times Online reports that the jerboa has been filmed in its natural habitat for the first time as part of a project to save it from extinction.

Watch the video on YouTube

A scientific expedition to the Gobi desert in Mongolia has now succeeded in capturing video footage of the nocturnal and little-known animal.

“It’s an extraordinary animal that looks as if it’s been designed by committee - kangaroo legs, snowshoe feet, huge ears and a pig’s nose.

“It represents millions of years of evolutionary history and while it looks like a small rodent it’s very, very distinct. There’s no other animal of its type.”