Khingan Zokor

About this species

Habitat

Meadow and steppe soils

Range

Northeastern Asia; Mongolia listed by Mammal Diversity Database

The Khingan zokor is a compact burrowing rodent shaped for life underground. External ears are absent, the eyes are small, and the forefeet bear long claws that do most of the digging. Dense brown-grey fur can move easily against tunnel walls, while the tail is short. It belongs to a difficult complex of Myospalax species, so external appearance alone is not enough to distinguish it securely from neighbouring zokors. (Mammal Diversity Database; Wikipedia, zokor overview)

Khingan zokors occupy soils beneath meadow or steppe vegetation and live almost continuously in extensive tunnels. Roots, bulbs and other subterranean plant parts are taken below ground, and fresh earth mounds reveal active excavation. The Mammal Diversity Database includes the species in Mongolia, but the other opened material did not provide a species-level Mongolian distribution, reproductive account or named viewing area. Those details are withheld because the biology of better-known zokors cannot safely be transferred to this taxon. (Mammal Diversity Database; Wikipedia, zokor overview)

Description: Wildlife of Mongolia guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)