The Agile Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys agilis) is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It is endemic to southern California in the United States.

Relatively little information has been published on the natural history, life history, ecology, or behavior of the agile kangaroo rat. The species appears to be part of the Californian kangaroo rat radiation, which is derived from a common ancestor with Ord's kangaroo rat. Best compared 19 morphological measurements from specimens from 34 populations across the species range, and concluded that the species is monotypic. An observational study found distinct habitat differences between the agile and Stephens's kangaroo rats, with the agile preferring more shrubs and lighter soils.

 Agile Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys agilis) - Saddleback Buttes Southern California Mojave Desert

The Desert Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys deserti) is a rodent species in the family Heteromyidae that is found in desert areas of southwestern North America. It is one of the large kangaroo rats, with a total length greater than 12 inches (30 cm) and a mass greater than 3.2oz (91g).

The desert kangaroo rat is found in arid parts of southwestern North America, including Death Valley, the Great Basin, the Mojave Desert, and portions of the Sonoran Desert. Though kangaroo rats persist in a variety of soils, desert kangaroo rats live exclusively in areas with loose sand, often dune terrain. The places on this list constitute some of the most extreme deserts in the United States including Death Valley, which has the record for the hottest place on the continent.

Desert kangaroo rats are denizens of desert areas with sandy soil; vegetation is typically sparse and consists of creosote bush, a variety of grasses, and cacti. Desert kangaroo rats live in burrow systems under slight mounds of soil 6-9m across; they sleep in a den, which is sealed off at extreme temperatures, during the day. Groups of 6-12 widely spaced burrows may constitute a colony of this species, which is otherwise solitary.

Seeds are the dominant component of the diet of desert kangaroo rats. The size of the seeds consumed by the species tends to be larger than seeds consumed by other, sympatric heteromyids. When presented with patches with variation in seed sizes and densities—which in combination vary total profitability—desert kangaroo rats tend to choose large-seed patches but reduce profitability of a set of patches to similar levels. Seed selection also appears correlated with nutritional content, with this species choosing seeds with high carbohydrate content. Although some kangaroo rats will consume green vegetation, desert kangaroo rats do not. Feeding occurs in fits and starts of movement and at relatively discrete locations, with an average distance of ~7 m (22 ft.) between stops.

Most kangaroo rat species live in arid environments and are known for their ability to make use of metabolic water rather than requiring it from the environment. While the desert kangaroo rats do consume available water, the vast majority of their water requirements are met from byproducts of metabolic processes. Adaptation to very low quantities of water (free or metabolic) is highlighted by the very long water turnover times for the species, on the order of 2–3 weeks.[

Kangaroo rats achieve the ability to be sustained on limited water by having incredibly derived kidneys. To remove waste without losing water, many species have developed mechanisms to concentrate their urine. This happens in the kidneys. There seems to be an inverse correlation of body mass to ability to concentrate urine. So naturally small rodents can persist in much more water deficient environments than larger animals. The desert kangaroo rat has a kidney structure very similar to those of other rodents, but it has much longer papilla (mammalian species). Papilla lengths, along with number of nephrons, play a crucial role in urine concentration.

Desert Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys deserti) - Saddleback Buttes Southern California Mojave Desert

 The giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens) is an endangered species of heteromyid rodent endemic to California.

The giant kangaroo rat, is the largest of over 20 species of kangaroo rats, which are small members of the rodent family, measuring about 15 cm (5.9 in) in length, including its long, tufted tail. It is tan or brown in color. Like other kangaroo rats it has a large head and large eyes, and long, strong hind leg with which helps it hop at high speeds.

The giant kangaroo rat has been recently added to the endangered species list due to its habitat being severely reduced. Data was collected on its foraging behavior and social structure. Traps baited kangaroo rats with oats in them for four weeks in the summer. The animals were captured, tagged with tracking devices and set free. Results show that significantly fewer males were captured. This could have been due to the time of year at which the experiment was tested. Females were found to be more social. Studies also showed that the kangaroo rat's den is the area in which the animal spends the most time.

The giant kangaroo rat lives on dry, sandy grasslands and digs burrows in loose soil. It lives in colonies, and the individuals communicate with each other by drumming their feet on the ground. These foot thumping signals range from single, short thumps to long, drawn out “footrolls” that can average over 100 drums at 18 drums per second. These audible signals serve both as a warning of approaching danger, as a territorial communication, and to communicate mating status.

Kangaroo rats are primarily seed eaters, but also eat green plants and insects. Most giant kangaroo rats gather seeds when they are available and store them for consumption later. The seeds are put into small pits on the surface of the soil and scattered over the home range of the individual. The small pits only hold the content of the two cheek pouches.

In the spring and summer, individuals generally spend less than two hours of the night foraging above ground. They are very territorial and never leave their den for more than 15 minutes per day. The giant kangaroo rat then stores the seeds in a larder for later eating and gives birth to a litter of 1 to 8 babies, with an average of 3 per litter. It communicates with potential mates by sand-bathing, where the giant kangaroo rat rubs its sides in sand, leaving behind a scent to attract mates. They live for only 2–4 years.

This species was declared endangered on both the federal and California state levels in the 1980s. It inhabits less than a mere 2% of its original range and can now be found only in isolated areas west of the San Joaquin Valley, including the Carrizo Plain, the Elkhorn Plain, and the Kettleman Hills. The giant kangaroo rat, like many other rodent species, lost much of its habitat as the Central Valley fell under agricultural use. Much information still needs to be obtained regarding their basic biology and compatibility with various land uses before clear directives can be made. Besides some projects currently underway in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, studies need to be conducted on populations whose range overlaps with private lands. Recovery of the giant kangaroo rat can be achieved when the three largest populations in eastern Kern County, Carrizo Plain Natural Area, and the Panoche Region along with the populations in the Kettleman Hills, San Juan Creek Valley and Cuyama Valley are protected and managed appropriately. In a unique case, a giant kangaroo rat population was found during the construction of the second track at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. The track design was modified and a protected habitat was created in the middle of the new track.

The mating of the giant kangaroo rat is seasonal. During the summer, male rats go out of their normal territories and mate with neighboring female rats. During the winter, the males stay in their original burrow.

Endangered Dipodomys ingens populations have become more dispersed and less numerous over time. This can have major side effects to the genetic diversity of the species. D. ingens populations only cover about 3% of the territory they historically occupied. Agricultural development has severely impacted the habitats of this rodent, and restricted it to several small isolated areas. Because of this, D. ingens is at risk for genetic drift and inbreeding within smaller populations. D. ingens lives in metapopulation structures due to their habitats being taken over by humans. They are divided into several small remnant populations that are unable to disperse over larger areas because of topographical limitations. This is a larger problem for northern subpopulations of than those in the south. D. ingens is believed to be polygynous (one male, multiple females) but a common ratio between male and female partners has not yet been found. The study showed that translocation was a successful method for increasing diversity and population size of D. ingens.

Giant Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ingens) - Carrizo Plains San Joaquin Valley California

Merriam's Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys merriami) is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. The species name commemorates Clinton Hart Merriam.

Dipodomys merriami is found in the Upper and Lower Sonoran life zones of the southwestern United States, Baja California, and northern Mexico.

Merriam's kangaroo rats, like other kangaroo rats and pocket mice, are members of the family Heteromyidae. Each species within this family has fur-lined food storage pouches. The cheek pouch is utilized as a portable cache for food while foraging. Kangaroo rats are named for their extremely long, kangaroo-like hind feet and they are almost completely bipedal. They hop or jump rather than scurry or run. Because of this, most heteromyid rodents also have a relatively long tail that acts to counterbalance the hopping/jumping form of locomotion.

Fur color varies between populations within the species' range, but the back color is generally light brown or tan. The merriami species is smaller than most of the other kangaroo rats in the southwest. Adults average about 14 inches in length. The tail is relatively long with a large tuft of hair at the tip. The tuft is thought to act like fletching on an arrow, providing drag to keep the animal stable during locomotion. merriami have four toes on each hind foot in contrast to the pacific kangaroo rat, Dipodomys simulans and the Stephens' kangaroo rat, Dipodomys stephensi (both kangaroo rat species also found in San Diego County), which have five toes.

Merriam's kangaroo rat can be found in desert scrub, alkali scrub, sagebrush steppe, pinyon-juniper woodland, and Joshua tree habitat throughout the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Merriam’s Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys merriami) - Baja Mexico Vizcaino National Park

  Ord's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ordii) is a kangaroo rat native to western North America, specifically the Great Plains and the Great Basin, with its range extending from extreme southern Canada to central Mexico.

Ord's kangaroo rat has a fifth toe on its hind feet, which distinguishes it from Dipodomys elator. It is bicolored with gold-brown dorsal hair and a white stomach. It has a long tail with a bushy tip, and is dark dorsally and ventrally with a white lateral stripe. Its hind feet are modified for jumping, and exceed 35 mm in length, and its total length exceeds 240 mm. Its tail is usually less than 160 mm, distinguishing it from D. elator (which exceeds 160 mm).

Though a common species in the United States, the population in Canada is considered endangered.

The currently accepted scientific name for Ord's kangaroo rat is Dipodomys ordii Woodhouse. It belongs to the family Heteromyidae, kangaroo rats and mice. Hall listed 35 subspecies, but Kennedy and Schnell reported many of these subspecies are probably not legitimate since they were based on the assumption of little sexual dimorphism in the species. It has now been established that sexual dimorphism within the taxon is considerable.

Ord's kangaroo rat ranges from southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan to southern Hidalgo, Mexico, and from central Oregon and eastern California east to central Kansas and Oklahoma.

Ord's kangaroo rats occur mainly in semiarid, open habitats. In Nevada, they were trapped in desert scrub and gravelly soil, flat pebble desert, and washes. In Utah, Ord's kangaroo rats have an affinity for open shrublands and grasslands on sandy soils. In southeastern Idaho, big sagebrush/crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) range, most Ord's kangaroo rat captures occurred on disturbed sites or areas of sparse cover: Russian thistle (Salsola kali), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), and green rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus), followed by disturbed areas seeded to crested wheatgrass, then undisturbed big sagebrush.[9] In western South Dakota, Ord's kangaroo rats are associated with black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) towns. In Wyoming, Ord's kangaroo rats are abundant in sand dune communities where vegetation is greater than 10 inches (25 cm) tall and bare soil exceeds 40%. In Colorado, Ord's kangaroo rats were primarily captured in open areas with firm soil. Firm or lightly compacted soils are needed for burrow construction; highly compacted soils are too hard for them to dig. In areas of desert pavement or tough clay soils in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, Ord's kangaroo rats are confined to pockets of windblown sand and alluvial soils along arroyos.

Strong intraspecific competition and little interspecific competition occurs among Dipodomys species. In New Mexico, where Ord's kangaroo rats are sympatric with Merriam's kangaroo rats (D. merriamii), Ord's kangaroo rats were mostly captured in grassy microhabitats, and Merriam's kangaroo rats were captured more often around creosotebush. Herbicide defoliation of shrubs (for rangeland improvement) reduced live canopy cover of creosotebush and resulted in an increase in bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri). After treatment, Ord's kangaroo rats replaced Merriam's kangaroo rats as the dominant rodent. This was suggested to be due to the change in habitat structure to open grass.

Removal experiments to establish single species populations of kangaroo rats were unsuccessful, since many kangaroo rats are transient and quickly occupy vacated habitats. Only one adult occupies a given burrow system, except for a brief period during breeding activity. Little territoriality occurs above ground except near burrow entrances, which are defended.

In New Mexico, Ord's kangaroo rat annual home ranges in mesquite averaged 3.35 acres (1.36 ha). In Nevada sagebrush/grassland, Ord's kangaroo rat home ranges were estimated as 1.53 acres (0.62 ha) by the circular method and 1.06 acres (0.43 ha) by the principal component method. Home range movements increased through spring and again in late fall and early winter. No significant difference was found between male and female Ord's kangaroo rat home ranges; however, female home ranges decreased during reproductive periods. Recapture data for Ord's kangaroo rats in Arizona indicated they do not travel far from the home range; most Ord's kangaroo rats were recaptured within 165 ft (50 m) of the original capture site. Data on the lifetime movements of individuals indicated most were recaptured within 330 feet (100 m) of the original capture site.

In sagebrush in the Great Basin, Ord's kangaroo rats reach an average density of 113 rats per 10 ha. In intermountain salt-desert shrublands, the population density averaged 28 individuals per 10 ha in shadscale communities and 135 individuals per 10 ha in black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus) communities.

Ord’s Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ordii) - Seligman Arizona

The plains pocket mouse (Perognathus flavescens) is a heteromyid rodent of North America.[2][3] It ranges from southwestern Minnesota and southeastern North Dakota to northern Texas east of the Rockies, and from northern Utah and Colorado to northern Chihuahua west of the Rockies.

It has soft silky fur and grows to be 5 inches (13 cm) long, although nearly half of that is the tail.

They often live directly underneath Spanish bayonet or prickly pear plants. They are accustomed to sandy soil and eat mostly seeds, large and small grasses and small leaves of plants. Some food found in their cheek pouches are: seeds of needle grass (Stipa), bind weed, sandbur grass, a small bean (probably Astragalus), and sedge (Cyperus). Even those caught in grain fields usually have their pouches filled with weed seeds. Seeds of two species of pigeon grass, a few other grasses, and wild buckwheat have been found in their burrows.

Their breeding season is mainly July to August and the females tend to have 4 embryos at a time. Other information about this animal is scarce.

 Great Plains Pocket Mouse (Perognathus flavescens) - Southern Idaho

The desert pocket mouse (Chaetodipus penicillatus) is a North American species of heteromyid rodent found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. True to its common name, the medium-sized desert pocket mouse prefers sandy, sparsely vegetated desert environments.

Chaetodipus penicillatus is a medium-sized pocket mouse. The total length of adults usually does not exceed 180 mm. Coloration is grayish brown to yellowish gray and may be sprinkled with black. The pelage is coarse. This species lacks rump spines but has numerous, elongate rump hairs which are darker dorsally and lighter laterally. There is no lateral line. The underparts of the body and tail are whitish. The tail is heavily crested and is longer than the head and body, with average tail length being 109 mm. The soles of the hind feet are whitish and average hind foot length is 25 mm.

Chaetodipus penicillatus occurs in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The northern limit of its range is southern Nevada. It extends southwest into California and the northern Baha Peninsula and northwestern Mexico. Eastward it stretches into the southwesternmost parts of Colorado. From southern Nevada and southwestern Colorado the range of C. penicillatus proceeds southeast into Arizona, through southern New Mexico and southwestern Texas, and into northeastern Mexico. The desert pocket mouse prefers various arid, open desert environments, usually where the vegetation is rather sparse. These may include desert wash, desert succulent shrub, desert scrub, and alkali desert scrub. It prefers soft alluvial, sandy, or silty soils along stream bottoms, desert washes, and valleys, rather than rocky terrain. These pocket mice live in soils that may be vegetated with creosote bush, palo verde, burroweed, mesquite, cholla and other cacti, and short, sparse grass, as well as in lower edges of alluvial fan with yucca, mesquite, grama, and prickly poppy.

Desert Pocket Mouse (Chaetodipus penicillatus) - Saddleback Buttes Southern California Mojave Desert

The long-tailed pocket mouse (Chaetodipus formosus) is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It is found in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah in the United States and Baja California in Mexico.

Long-tailed Pocket Mouse (Chaetodipus formosus) - San Ignacio, Baja Mexico