Today I want to talk about gerbils. Specifically the Giant Gerbils (16 inches long) that are infesting north-western China.

These giant gerbils (scientific name Rhombomys Opimus which means "Rich Rhomboid Mouse") eat lots of vegetation and make complex burrows underground. They are so numerous that they are causing the grasslands where they live to become desert. The area they have screwed up so far is 11 million acres which the BBC points out is the size of Switzerland.

The BBC News site also describes the gerbils as being "the worst rodent disaster to hit this region of Xinjiang in 10 years". Alas, we aren't given details on other rodent disasters in Xinjiang so that we might compare.

Reuters talked with Xiong Ling, described as "an official with the region's headquarters for controlling locusts and rodents" (and who presumably is tracking these various other rodent disasters yet is not giving up the info, at least on the web anyway. Come on Xiong Ling, get with it!) in a story saying that the Chinese intend to solve the problem with both poisons and by training eagles to prey on the giant gerbils.

I appreciate that these folks want to attack the problem using natural predators but how many giant gerbils can eagles eat anyway? Wouldn't you need a frigging ton of eagles?!? And then do you end up with an eagle problem to go with your giant gerbil problem? Short sighted, I think.

If all this talk of gerbils and their habitats has you, like me, thinking of Habitrails, here's a site that offers product reviews of the various items in the Habitrail line.

If all this talk of gerbils has you, unlike me, contemplating the urban myth that some gay men stuff gerbils up their butts, you're on your own link-wise.