Kangaroo rat

A small North American rodent that hops on powerful hind legs and is adapted to arid habitats, often obtaining much of its water from food.

Hopping: A form of locomotion in which an animal moves through repeated leaps using its hind limbs. Powerful hind legs let kangaroo rats travel quickly across open desert ground.
Renal concentration: The kidney process of producing urine with a higher solute concentration than blood plasma. Kangaroo rats conserve water by producing exceptionally concentrated urine.
Seed dispersal: The movement of seeds away from the plants that produced them. Forgotten caches can move seeds to new places and aid plant recruitment.
Ord's kangaroo rat: A widespread kangaroo rat species of western North American arid and semiarid regions. It exemplifies the genus's adaptation to open, dry landscapes.
Bipedalism: Locomotion using two limbs for support or movement. Kangaroo rats are bipedal when they bound, despite being rodents.
Evaporative cooling: Cooling caused when a liquid evaporates and carries heat away from a surface. Its costs in water help explain why kangaroo rats avoid daytime heat.
Seed predation: The consumption of seeds by animals before they can germinate. Kangaroo rats remove large quantities of seeds from desert plants.
Merriam's kangaroo rat: A small kangaroo rat native to deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Its desert distribution and seed-based diet typify many kangaroo rats.
Granivore: An animal whose diet consists primarily of seeds or grains. Seeds provide kangaroo rats with both energy and much of their water.
Burrow: A tunnel or chamber excavated by an animal for shelter or other uses. Burrows provide cooler, more humid refuges than the desert surface.

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PedetesCompared with: It is a distant rodent counterpart with convergent adaptations to open, arid ground.