Morro Bay kangaroo rat, Dipodomys heermanni morroensis, is endemic to San Luis Obispo County, California.
This subspecies of “Heermann” kangaroo rat today lives only in a restricted 2km area south of Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County, California. With 22 species, kangaroo rats can be found from the southeastern United States to Panama. They live in warm and semidesert areas, and like gerbils and pyramid rats resemble little kangaroos, with well-developed hind limbs for jumping, short front limbs, and a long tail used for balance during the leap. Being nocturnal animals, their eyes are very large; their ears are average in size. Their hair on the back varies between brown and yellow, while the belly is white. The Morro Bay kangaroo rat is 11 to 13 cm long and its tail measures between 16 and 19 cm. It weighs between 60 and 80g.
Read more about Morro Bay Kangaroo Rat: Description, Endangered and Missing
Famous quotes containing the words bay and/or rat:
“The very dogs that sullenly bay the moon from farm-yards in these nights excite more heroism in our breasts than all the civil exhortations or war sermons of the age.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is restful, tragedy, because one knows that there is no more lousy hope left. You know you’re caught, caught at last like a rat with all the world on its back. And the only thing left to do is shout—not moan, or complain, but yell out at the top of your voice whatever it was you had to say. What you’ve never said before. What perhaps you don’t even know till now.”
—Jean Anouilh (1910–1987)