Libyan jird
Meriones libycus
Raouf Guechi · barika
Key facts in one look
- Size
- Head and body 12–17 cm, 60–140 g
- Status in Georgia
- Native, stable population
- Habitat
- Dry steppes and semi-deserts
- Family
- Muridae
- Conservation
- LC / LC
The Libyan jird (Meriones libycus) is a jird whose range runs from Morocco to western China and includes Transcaucasia. In Georgia it lives in the dry eastern steppes and semi-deserts: at Gardabani, Samgori, Shiraki, the Eldari plain and Vashlovani. It weighs 60–140 g, and its tail is almost as long as its body and ends in a black tuft. It stores seeds and bulbs in its burrow, and in some countries it damages crops. If you find burrows with many entrances on a dry steppe, they may well be its.
Identification
Libyan jird: how to identify it
A medium-sized jird with a broad head, large eyes, long hind feet and a long tail. The back is tawny grey, the belly white. In Georgia it is most easily confused with Tristram's jird.
Head and body 12–17 cm, tail 11.5–19 cm, weight 60–140 g. The tail is about as long as the head and body and ends in a conspicuous black tuft.
The back is tawny grey, the belly white. The claws are black, and the soles of the hind feet are partly covered with hair.
Tristram's jird has only a poorly developed dark brush at the tail tip, and a relatively shorter tail. These features are hard to see in the field, so use a photo to identify it, not a trap.
Colour
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
Often confused with
It is an animal of dry lowlands: steppes, semi-deserts and deserts with compact, hard soil and sparse shrubs. It avoids mountain slopes and rocky ground. In Georgia it has been found in and around the Gardabani Managed Reserve, near Rustavi, at Samgori, Chachuna, the Eldari plain, Shiraki and Vashlovani. It was also photographed at the Dali reservoir in December 2016. Elsewhere in its range it reaches 2300 m.
The Libyan jird map combines public iNaturalist observations. Regions are taken from the records-by-region table, and the status column separates regions with enough records from regions with too few records. Record counts reflect observation effort rather than population density. Records are still too few to mark any region.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Photo record
- Region with records
It eats seeds and plants: seeds, grasses, cereals, rhizomes, bulbs and succulent plants. It hoards food in its burrow. In Turkmenistan a single nest chamber held a store of up to 30 kg. It needs very little water.
It is mostly nocturnal, though in north-western China it is also active by day. It digs complex burrows with 2–8 entrances, food chambers and a deeper nest. It lives in small groups and drums its hind feet on the ground to signal danger. It breeds all year round: gestation lasts 24 days, and a litter holds 2–7 blind, naked young. In colder regions it can enter torpor in winter, and when food runs short it moves to new ground.
In Georgia it is not threatened: the 2021 national assessment lists it as LC, with a stable population. Globally it is also Least Concern (LC, 2016). It is common across its wide range, and in Iran it forms dense populations near farmland. In Central Asia and Arabia it damages cereals and vegetables.
Related guides
Continue with related pages
In the dry lowlands of eastern Georgia. It has been found near Gardabani and Rustavi, at Samgori, Chachuna, the Eldari plain, Shiraki and Vashlovani. It prefers compact soil and sparse shrubs and avoids mountain slopes and rocks.
Mainly by the tail. The Libyan jird's tail is almost as long as its body and ends in a conspicuous black tuft, while Tristram's jird has only a poorly developed brush. Its claws are also black. In Georgia, Tristram's jird has been found at a few places in southern Kvemo Kartli. Do not check by trapping; a photo is enough.
In some countries, yes. In Arabia, Balochistan and Central Asia it can do considerable damage to crops and vegetables, and in Iran it forms dense populations near fields. There is no data on such damage in Georgia.
No, it does not attack. Still, wild rodents can pass on diseases through bites, scratches, urine, droppings and fleas. So do not touch a jird with bare hands.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
