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There are 87 gerbil species known (see below for links to specific species). So 86 more than the popular and known Mongolian gerbil. In the next scheme you can find where the gerbils stand in the animal kingdom:
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Kingdom:
Super Class:
Class:
Order:
Sub Order:
Super Family:
Family:
Sub Family:
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Animal Kingdom (Regnum animale)
Vertebrates (Vertebrata)
Mammals (Mammalia)
Rodents (Rodentia)
Mice-like (Myomorpha)
Mice-like (Muroidea)
Hamster- and Vole-like (Cricetidae)
Gerbils (Gerbillinae)
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The gerbils are divided into 14 genera:
A genus can be sub-divided into species and sub-species (click here to see some sub-species with their common names and distribution data). The different sub-species belong to the same species, but they differ that much in colour or size, caused by environmental factors, that they are sub-divided. Animals of the same species can usually crossbreed. From the scientific name of the animal you can tell to which sub-species, species and genus it belongs. For instance the Meriones crassus charon, Meriones is the genus, crassus the species and charon the subspecies.
There is not much known about most of the gerbil species, other than the Mongolian Jird. There are some scientific articles about wild observations of some gerbil species. However during the last years more and more gerbil species are kept in captivity, from that we can gather a lot of knowledge about these animals.
Gerbils are very well adjusted to the arid area's they live in because they are very economic with water. They produce little urine, their feaces is dry and they don't sweat.
That they can not sweat is the reason why high temperatures are dangerous to gerbils. This is something one wouldn't expect from an animal that lives in such dry areas. To prevent "over-temperature" most gerbils stay in their burrows during the hottest periods of the day.
Thus, most gerbils are nocturnal. Only some northern gerbil species, like the Mongolian gerbil are diurnal, which means that they are also seen outside during daytime.
There are three types of area's where gerbils live:
1) Hot deserts and half-deserts around the tropic of Cancer in Northern-Africa, South-West-Asia and Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
2) Savanna and steppe area's in Africa, south of the Sahara and the Kalahari and Namibian deserts.
3) The deserts and steppe of Central-Asia where, during winter, temperatures drop below freezing point.
According to these types of habitat, the gerbil genus can be sub-devised. For instance the Jirds (Meriones) live mostly in type-3 area's and sometimes in type-1 area's.
The 'real' gerbils (Gerbillus) live in type-1 habitats.
Depending on the habitat, gerbils live more or less in social groups. Gerbils that live in type-1 area's live mostly solitaire.
In type-2 habitats gerbils (like the Indian gerbil) tend to live more socially, resulting in couples and small family groups.
The Jirds (Meriones) live in complex social structures. They mainly live in type-3 area's.
The type of the habitat has a large influence on how gerbils live. It is in fact that the same gerbil species lives in another social structure when it lives in another type of habitat. The Libyan jird (Meriones libycus) for instance lives solitaire in Algeria, which is a type-1 area, but lives in groups in Pakistan (a type-3 area)!
References:
MacDonald, David, 1984, (UK) The Encyclopaedia of Mammals, Part 2
Fred Petrij & Netty de Wit, 1996, (NL) De Gerbil als gezelschapsdier
Next you can find some information about the different gerbil species that are being kept as pets. There is already information available on the GerbilInformation Page about the species marked with  , just click on the scientific name. Info on species marked with an  are available on other pages, click on the name and you will go there.
Where possible the used Latin names are checked for correctness in Walker's Mammals of the World, 5th edition, by Ronald M. Nowak.
There will be information about all the above gerbil species and more on this homepage in the future. If available with pictures.
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A part of the information on these pages is based on the experience and knowledge of members of the Dutch Gerbil Study Group.
If you have questions about the VEZ or the Dutch Gerbil Study Group, contact Fred Petrij, chairman of the DGSG.
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