Zoo Staff Keeps Desperate Jerboas in Fridges

The staff of Moscow Zoo uses ordinary fridges to help jerboas fall into winter sleep and breed.

Moscow Zoo officials wrote about it on the zoo's Facebook page.

"Do you know where jerboas sleep in our zoo? In fridges!" the officials proudly announced.

But don't worry, no need to call animal rights activists, it's just that the species' breeding season follows their winter sleep. If these cute animals are totally happy, have enough food and material to build nests, they refuse to fall asleep and then breed.  

"In order to make them fall asleep we put them in stress conditions," the officials explained "Jerboas are being locked in a dark silent place with a temperature around 3-4 degrees Celsius. Animals grow desperate and are left with just one option — to slip into anabiosis." They added that to create necessary conditions for the species' winter sleep they use ordinary fridges.

Since jerboas are very sensitive to noise, some of them can only fall asleep in engineless fridges. During the course of winter, the zoo staff checks on the animals and weighs them. If their weight drops to summer rates, the jerboas are woken up and moved to a warm place.

Most jerboas live in deserts and semideserts. They are the only species apart from apes that are able to run on two feet. However, their trademark is ricochet jumps. With these jumps the gnawing animals can develop high speed in the event of danger. Their tail serves as an additional prop and helps them balance during rapid movements.