Ord’s kangaroo rats never need to drink water, pulling all the moisture they need from the seeds they eat, which lets them thrive in Oregon’s driest high-desert ground east of the Cascades. They move by hopping on their hind legs like a miniature kangaroo, and their long, tufted tail helps them balance during quick, erratic jumps that make it hard for a predator to predict where they’ll land next.
Records run mostly from April through October and peak sharply in July, a spread that fits a nocturnal, burrow-dwelling rodent active through the warmer months and largely dormant in winter. NatureServe ranks the species S4, apparently secure, in Oregon, and 50 of its 56 records are iNaturalist observations, a solid showing for an animal rarely seen above ground by day.
Full species profile
