Writer: Ayça Olcaytu İşçen
October 2007

While you’re strolling around among fairy chimneys, they’re having a rest in their burrows. After sundown, they go out to find some food. These tiny creatures, living in steppe and semi-desert areas, look like a rabbit with their ears and hind legs, and they hop like a kangaroo. Five-toed jerboas are members of Allactaga genus of Dipodidae family. In Turkey this genus is represented with 3 species and 4 subspecies. Two of the genus members are in IUCN red list of threatened species. In Cappadocia you can see ‘Allactaga williamsi laticeps’ but only at night because these animals are nocturnal. They have summer and winter burrows, sealed with some soil to avoid heat and predators. They breed 2-3 times a year and have 5 nestlings each time. This number seems to be enormous but we should take into account that rodents are the meat-stock of the nature. Many carnivorous animals live on rodents.
Although they do not seem lovely for most of us, we mustn’t forget that they deserve to live at least we do. And if you hear them pattering while you are having a night walk, don’t be afraid, they are herbivorous and insectivorous, they do not eat humans…

Note: This article has been published in Peribacası Cappadocia Culture and Publicity Magazine, October 2007 issue. It is under protection of the copyrights of the magazine. No part of this article may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by electronic, mechanical or other means without prior permission from the owner. www.cappadociaexplorer.com