Arabian jird

The Arabian jird (Meriones arimalius) is a small desert rodent of the family Muridae, first described by Cheesman and Hinton in 1924. It is known from the Rub al Khali desert in Oman and Saudi Arabia and may also occur in the United Arab Emirates. Some authorities treat it as a subspecies of the closely related Libyan jird, Meriones libycus. A typical specimen is about 132 millimetres long with a tail of about 163 millimetres; the fur is short and thin, sandy cream on the back and white underneath, and the tail is ivory to yellow with a white tuft at the tip. Little is recorded of its behaviour or abundance, but it digs burrows that it uses as shelter, eats the seeds of Abutilon fruticosum, and is preyed on by the sand cat. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern because it is widely distributed and its habitat is not under threat.