Origin & History

Mongolian gerbils are rodents (Rodentia) that belong to the family of Cricetidae, just like hamsters. They are more related to hamsters than to rats and mice, which belong to the family of Muridae. The scientific name for the Mongolian Gerbil is Meriones unguiculatus, as you can see in the subjoined table. In English this species is called Mongolian Gerbil, Mongolian Jird or Clawed Jird and in German Mongolische Renmause.

Origin

The Mongolian gerbil can be found in the wild in Mongolia. There they live in semi-deserts and steppes. It is a biotope with harsh, extreme circumstances. Mongolian gerbils don't have many natural enemies, because there don't live many animals in their biotope. The enemies they have are mostly birds of prey and snakes. These rodents have developed great jumping capabilities to escape from these predators.

Mongolian gerbils have some characteristics that are typical for desert animals. They can hear very well. And of course is it important that they are good in retaining water and they can store water in fat cell layers. Gerbils are very economic with water. That's why they produce little urine and very dry faeces.

The Mongolian gerbil is not a characteristic nocturnal animal, unlike most desert animals. The gerbils stay in their burrow during the hottest and coldest periods of the day. By turns the Mongolian gerbil undergoes periods of sleep and periods of activity. They still continue this circle in captivity.

History

Father Armand David did send some 'yellow rats' to the Museum of Natural History (Musée d'Histoire Naturelle) in Paris from Northern China in 1866. There these 'yellow rats' were named Meriones unguiculatus by the scientist Milne-Edwards in 1867. Meriones was a Greek warrior with teeth on his helmet, and unguis is a Latin word for nail. You can translate the scientific name of the Mongolian gerbils as 'clawed warrior'.

The Mongolian gerbils have a very short history as pets. In 1935, about twenty breeding pairs where captured in the east of Mongolia and Manchuria. These gerbils are seen as the ancestors of most of the gerbils we now keep as pets. These gerbils were successfully bred outside Mongolia and in the 1930s they were imported into Japan en in 1954 to the United States (USA). Some pairs from the United States were brought to the United Kingdom in 1964. From this countries the Mongolian gerbils have spread to other countries in the world.

At first these gerbils were used in scientific research (they are also still nowadays used in laboratory for parasitology research, studies in ageing, bacterial and viral diseases, behaviour, cancer, dentistry, drug research, endocrinology and neurology). People then realized that they would be very suitable as pets.