AnAge entry for Meriones unguiculatus

Classification (HAGRID: 03052)

Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Rodentia
                Family: Muridae
                    Genus: Meriones
Species: Meriones unguiculatus
Common name: Mongolian jird
Synonyms: Gerbillus koslovi, Meriones kurauchii, Meriones kurauchii chihfengensis

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity: 6.3 years (captivity)
Source: ref. 671
Sample size: Medium
Data quality: Acceptable
Observations: Females reproduce until they are 20 months old. Average lifespan in the wild is less than 6 months [0434]. One captive specimen lived 6.3 years [0671]. In contrast to rats, hearing loss did not appear to correlate with expression of GABA in Mongolian jirds [1191].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity: 43 days
Male sexual maturity: 36 days
Gestation: 25 days
Weaning: 24 days
Litter size: 5 (viviparous)
Litters per year: 4
Inter-litter interval: 46 days
Weight at birth: 3 g
Weight at weaning: 14.3 g
Adult weight: 53.2 g
Postnatal growth rate: 0.0324 days^-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual: 70%

Metabolism

Typical body temperature: 311ºK or 38.2ºC or 100.8ºF
Basal metabolic rate: 0.5460 W
Body mass: 64.8 g
Metabolic rate per body mass: 0.008426 W/g

References

[1191] Gleich et al. (2014), Comparing the inferior colliculus of young and old gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) with an emphasis on GABA (PubMed)
[0949] Lee et al. (2011), Heat shock protein 90 and its cochaperone, p23, are markedly increased in the aged gerbil hippocampus (PubMed)
[0775] Brummelte and Teuchert-Noodt (2007), Density of dopaminergic fibres in the prefrontal cortex of gerbils is sensitive to aging (PubMed)
[0776] Seluanov et al. (2007), Telomerase activity coevolves with body mass not lifespan (PubMed)
[0734] Scarano et al. (2006), Tissue evidence of the testosterone role on the abnormal growth and aging effects reversion in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) prostate (PubMed)
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0372] Arkin et al. (2003), Age-related changes on marking, marking-like behavior and the scent gland in adult Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) (PubMed)
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3 (PubMed)
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0373] Dawirs et al. (2000), Granule cell proliferation and axon terminal degradation in the dentate gyrus of gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) during maturation, adulthood and aging (PubMed)
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0374] Spangler et al. (1997), An assessment of behavioral aging in the Mongolian gerbil (PubMed)
[0377] Bingel (1995), Pathologic findings in an aging Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) colony (PubMed)
[0375] Sohal et al. (1995), Oxidative stress and aging in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) (PubMed)
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0542] Bernhard Grzimek (1990), Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals
[0376] Langley and Gray (1987), Age-related susceptibility of the gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus, to the bovine parasite, Babesia divergens (PubMed)
[0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
[0571] National Gerbil Society

External Resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information System: ITIS 632988
Animal Diversity Web: ADW account (if available)
Encyclopaedia of Life: Search EOL
NCBI Taxonomy: Taxonomy ID 10047
Entrez: Search all databases
Ageing Literature: Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
Images: Google Image search
Internet: Search Google