'''トビネズミ'''は、トビネズミ科に属する齧歯類の総称である。体長4～26cm。北アフリカから東アジアにかけて、砂漠などの乾燥地帯に生息する。後ろ足が長く、二本足で立ち、カンガルーのように跳躍して移動する。一跳びで3m程度跳躍できる。

==生態==
体長と同程度の長いヒゲをもつ。高く飛び上がったとき以外は、このヒゲが地面に触れており、障害物や食物の有無など地表の様子を触覚から探知している。夜行性であり、気温の高い昼間は地中に掘った巣穴の中で休み、涼しくなった夜間に外に出て、食物を摂る。主な食物は植物の若芽、根、種子などである。乾燥した環境に強く、ほとんど水分を摂らずに生活できる。体内の水分消費を最小限にするよう、尿は濃縮され、強い酸性を示す。

==分類==
トビネズミ科には11属30種が属する。
* ミユビトビネズミ属 ''Jaculus''
** ヒメミユビトビネズミ ''Jaculus Jaculus''など
* イツユビトビネズミ属 ''Allactaga''
など

== 外部リンク ==

{{Taxobox
| name = Jerboa
| fossil_range = Middle Miocene - Recent
| image = Wuestenspringmaus-painting.jpg
| image_width = 200px
| image_caption = ''Jaculus jaculus''
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Chordata
| classis = Mammalia
| ordo = Rodentia
| superfamilia = Dipodoidea
| familia = Dipodidae
| familia_authority = Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = 
10 genera in 5 subfamilies
}}

'''Jerboas''' are the bulk of the membership of the family Dipodidae; they are small jumping desert rodents of Asia and northern Africa that resemble mice with a long tufted tail and very long hind legs. The small forelegs are not used for locomotion. In general, Asiatic jerboas have five toes on their hind feet and African jerboas have three; the shapes of their ears vary widely between species. Jerboa fur is long, soft and silky. Diet varies considerably: some are specialist seed, insect, or plant eaters, others are omnivores.

The English word '''jerboa''' may have been derived from the similar sounding Arabic word '''jerbu'a or Garbu'a''' ('''جربوع''') or the Hebrew word '''yarboa''' ('''יַרְבּוֹעַ''') which denote this animal. 

The ancestors of the modern jerboas probably separated from the more generalised rodents about 8 million years ago on the arid plains of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and then spread to Europe and northern Africa. With the exception of Europe, where they died out, this remains their current range. 

Their ability to hop is presumed to be an adaptation to help them escape from predators, and perhaps to assist with the longer journeys a desert-living animal must make to find food. Although jerboas are not closely related to the hopping mice of Australia or the kangaroo rats of North America, all three groups have evolved a similar set of adaptations to life in the deep desert.

Jerboas are nocturnal. During the heat of the day, they shelter in burrows. They create four separate types of burrow: two temporary, and two permanent. The temporary burrows are plain tubes: those used to escape from predators during the night are just  deep, unsealed and not camouflaged; the permanent daytime burrows are well-hidden and sealed with a plug of sand to keep heat out and moisture in, and are  long. 

Permanent burrows often have multiple entrances. They are much more elaborate structures with a nesting chamber. The winter burrows have food storage chambers  below ground level, and a hibernation chamber an astonishing  down.