Jerboa

 Now for something adorable. Seriously. 

Meet the Jerboa, taken from A-Z Animals:

This one is a Five-Toed Jerboa from Iran. Jerboas are small rodents that live in the deserts of Africa and Asia, with 33 different types. They've got a lot of variation among them, especially in things like their ear size, but they've all got short fore-limbs and long back legs, and they've got long tails that are used to help them balance. They need it, because Jerboas are between 2-6 inches big (this doesn't include their tails, which can be up to twice as long as the rest of them) and have been found sometimes able to jump more than 5 feet forward when they get moving. The Long Eared Jerboa, picture below from A-Z Animals, is considered the best jumper of the group. 

Another interesting thing about them is that they don't drink water. They get all the water they need from their food. They tend to eat whatever they can find, so it might be bugs or it might be whatever plants are around. 

These guys go out at night because it's too hot during the day, and they've got several burrows they trade between. They'll actually create a pair of semi-permanent burrows for summer/winter, and sometimes have other burrows that they make for when they need to go further afield for food. They hibernate during the winter, so their winter burrow is built to hold in the heat and keep them safe, while the summer burrow is where babies are born and is easier to go in and out of. 

These tiny rodents are a bit paranoid because there are predators that hunt them, and they're not easy to spot because of their natural camouflage, so it can be hard to spot them in the wild, but they're also a source of great interest because their limb formations are unique and Scientists (they deserve the capitalization right now) think they can shed light on how kangaroos started jumping, and how evolution makes the choices it does, overall. It's also an interesting case for biomechanics, which is something of a recent field that tries to figure out how creatures move and how they work, which can then be applied to fossils to figure out what they acted like when alive more. 

Wrapping up this so you can go look up more pictures of their adorableness, I'd like to make sure you know that they don't make good pets, you aren't allowed to have one as a pet, and if you decide to get one anyway, you might get hit with monkey-pox, because they are known carriers. If you decide to get one as a pet even though they really aren't ok with being pets, you kinda deserve the monkeypox anyway. 

That said, I hope you liked the adorableness and I'll see you again soon. 

Sources:

Britannica-- Jerboa

A-Z Animals-- Jerboa

Animalia--Baluchistan Pygmy Jerboa

Fact Animal-- Joyful Jerboa Facts

Animal Diversity Web-- Jerboa Family

Animalia-- Long Eared Jerboa

UC San Diego-- Jerboas shed light on limb development

AAAS--How the Jerboa Got It's Giant Feet

World Wildlife Fund- The Long Eared Jerboa Hops in a Class of It's Own