"What is a gerbil?" you might ask. I'll do my best to answer the question on this page.
There are actually many kinds of gerbils (read about them here). However, when I say gerbil, I'm talking about the Mongolian Gerbil, from the Gobi desert. They live in highly social groups (or 'clans') consisting of a Mom, Dad, and a few of their pups.
The Mongolian Gerbil's Latin name is Meriones Unguiculatus, which means 'Warrior with Claws'. It doesn't seem to fit the gentle, furry gerbil, but the truth is, gerbils are very territorial. Funny that the same gerbil that was called 'warrior with claws' was also called the 'gentle gerbil' by lab assistants.
A gerbil is about 9in from nose to tail-tip, with the tail being approximately as long as the body, meaning that it's in between a hamster and a mouse in size, if you don't have a ruler handy.
They started out as lab rodents in the US in 1954, when several were imported from Japan, where they were studied first. However, these gerbils seemed so cute to the lab workers that some lucky little gerbils came home with them. Pet stores soon caught on, and small-scale breeders followed after that. Now we have a blooming population of gerbils spreading across the world.
Welcome to the gerbil fancy.
