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Scientific Name: |
Meriones shawi |
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Next are two pictures to show the differences between Meriones shawi, and Meriones crassus perpallidus. The M. crassus perpallidus is often held for M. shawi.
On the left you see the M. crassus perpallidus, she is more red coloured, whereas the M. shawi on the right is more greyish. Here you can clearly see the tiny shawi tail, it looks like it is stuck in there, seems not in its place. The M. crassus perpallidus has a much longer tail, with a longer black tip.
The head of the M. crassus perpallidus is wider than that of the M. shawi. The soles of the hind feet in the M. crassus perpallidus are black, whereas those of the M. shawi are just lightly pigmented (grey).
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picture by Karin van Veen (shawi's found in Germany)
The Shaw's jird is related to the Mongolian jird, but is about twice as big. The head and body length is about 140 mm, the tail adds another 140 mm to that. They weigh about 150 grams.
Their top colour is brownish yellow, the belly is white with pale yellowish areas and there is a yellowish and orangish line from the side down to the wrist and heel.
The head is somewhat pointed. The ears are prominent and pigmented and sparsely covered with short hairs. There is a band of paler fur around the almond shaped black eyes.
The dorsal side of the tail is paler than the cinnamon coloured belly. The tail brush is black and about 30-40 mm long.
The feet are white, except for the colouration at the sides. The foot soles are partly covered with hairs and not pigmented, the claws are pale.
Shaw's jirds can vary a lot in type, as you can see on the pictures on this site, as well as on this page.
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The general distribution of Meriones shawi is in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Marocco (yellow & purper area). Meriones shawi shawi lives in Egypt, in the coastal deserts (purper area).
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The Shaw's jird burrows in the hard clay of the western Mediterranean coastal desert. Its burrow look like the burrow of the Psammomys obesus. Their burrows are also found on fields overgrown with thistles, on rocky slopes and on coastal dunes.
Burrows are usually dug beneath shrubs and have numerous openings which are not closed.
M. shawi grandis.
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Breeding Shaw's jirds is not easy! Especially the female is very aggressive towards other jirds. The females are very dominant and territorial.
Young females, housed together with a male can have one or two litters before they start to attack the male. If you want to continue breeding with such an aggressive female you can only put a male with her when she is in heat. The male can visit her then for a few hours.
The gestation period is about 24-26 days. Young Shaw's jirds develop fast, at about 16 days of age the eyes will open and they are walking around and start eating solid food, but the mother will look after them until they are about 4 weeks old.
M. shawi grandis.
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Maintenance and behaviour in captivity:
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Although Shaw's jirds can be very aggressive towards other jirds, they are very docile towards humans. They can become very tame by frequent handling.
It is best to keep the animals in pairs. Two males is no problem, but any combination with a female will result in fighting in the end.
Because the Shaw's jird is bigger than the Mongolian jird, they need more space. About 80x40 cm. floor area is required for a pair of Shaw's jirds.
They like to take sand baths occasionally.
Their basic food can consist of normal rodent food, a mixture of seeds and grains. They love all types of fruit and vegetables (more than Mongolian jirds do). They also like to eat some extra protein, you can provide that in the form of mealworms or dry cat food.
This is thought to be a Shawi grandis. They are clearly bigger than the M. shawi shawi, and have a head that is more edgy, square.
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