The kangaroo rat is not a direct relative of the invasive brown or “Norway” rat and doesn’t spread disease or harm crops. These nocturnal rodents live in open arid landscapes that have very little potential for farming.
They have large hind legs and feet, which they use in combat by leaping into the air and slashing at their enemies. Those powerful hind feet also come in handy with deadlier foes like rattlesnakes, allowing them to vigorously kick sand into the faces of their attacker and then flee from danger through a series of two-metre-long hops, similar to those of a kangaroo.
Canadian Ord’s kangaroo rats are the only ones of their kind to “hibernate” in winter, sleeping 17 hours at a stretch when the ground is covered in snow or if temperatures are too severe — although they have been spotted outside at –19 degrees Celsius during snow-free periods.
The federal Recovery Strategy for Ord’s kangaroo rat calls for a number of conservation measures, including determining the most effective method for translocating kangaroo rats to suitable habitat, assessing the degree of isolation among populations and destabilizing sand dunes to create the habitat this species needs.