Description: Ord's Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys ordii) are medium-sized (head and body: to 4-1/2 inches; tail: to 6 inches; total length: to about 10 inches). Body color brown with some darker hairs above, light below. Hind foot with 4 or 5 toes; toes visible through the hairs on the bottom of the foot. Tail dark with light stripes on the sides and dark hairs in the tuft at the tip; dark stripes wider than white stripes, and ventral dark stripe tapers to a point near the tip of the tail. Lower incisors round (compare with Chisel-tooth Kangaroo Rat. Moves by hopping on the hind legs like Australian kangaroos.

Taxonomy: Order: Rodentia, Family: Heteromyidae.

Diet: Feeds mostly on vegetation and seeds, but also eats a few insects. Does not require free water, but will drink when water is available (unusual for kangaroo rats)

Habitat: Mostly sandy soils in short-grass prairie, also desert shrublands and pinyon-juniper woodlands.

Range: North American grasslands and deserts south into central Mexico: Great Plains from southern Canada to central Mexico; Great Basin from southern Washington southward including Arizona and New Mexico south into Old Mexico.

Comments: Nocturnal. Most active on cloudy and moonless nights.