Gerbil Classification

If you notice that all gerbils, and in fact all species on earth, are designated a two-part Latin name to identify them. This system of classifying animals is known as binomial nomenclature. These names are important because they allow people around the world, no matter what language they speak, to write and communicate to others about any particular species. In theory, every name given is unique to that animal. The scientific names also give a clue as to what their relationships are to other animals.

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Gerbil Distribution

The Mongolian gerbil inhabits the steppe regions of the middle, southern and northeastern Mongolia. On expeditions in Mongolia it was rarely found inhabiting mountainous regions. In the northwestern region the mongolian gerbil extends its boundaries into Tuva in southern Russia. In the northeast region it again extends its boundaries in to Southern Russia and can be found inhabiting the Transbaikal region.

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History of the Mongolian Gerbil

In 1935 Professor Kasugo who had been studying the Mongolian gerbil in the wild, imported a batch of twenty pairs into Japan. The scientific community then used this initial batch for research. It is this first batch of gerbils that were originally captured around Eastern Mongolia and Manchuria that are the probable ancestors of most of the gerbils that we now keep today as pets.

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Gerbils on the Isle of Wight

On conclusion of the filming of Tales of the River Bank, an independent company working for the BBC decided to release the cast of small rodents into an area of land at Cothy Butts near Fishbourne (about 2½ miles west of Ryde). While the others - rats hamsters and cavies - died shortly after being introduced in 1973, a group of about 10 Mongolian gerbils managed to survive.

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History of the National Gerbil Society

The Gerbil made its debut in the UK around 1964, and quickly established itself as a popular pet. In 1969 the first ever Gerbil Show was held by the Birmingham Mouse Club on 23 February. The event was a big success with more gerbils being shown than had been expected, all were Golden Agouti Gerbils and the winning gerbil was owned by a Bert Gardener, the judge that day was H. Smith. The standard for the golden agouti was published in the Fur and Feather on April 10th of that year.

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Exhibiting Gerbils

Showing Gerbils is great fun and a good way of meeting other gerbil fans, to chat, swop information and renew friendships. But, first of all, how do you get started? How do you read the schedule? Who do you need to contact to put in entries? The list can be endless.

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Warren and Rosie

From humble beginnings in a litter of four, himself, two brothers and a sister, Warren was plucked from mediocrity and placed 'Big Brother' style into a nation's gaze. Although he was originally christened 'Brian' from Monty Pythons 'Life of Brian', Yahoo decided to put his name to an international vote and after many hundreds of thousands of votes the public decided to name him Warren.

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Tribute to Percy Parslow

Percy Parslow was born in 1914 during World War I. He originated from Kingston upon Thames and suffered a very bitter childhood, which resulted in having no faith in people throughout his life. He had a jewellery business and was a salesman, but his great ambition was his love for animals. Eventually, he knew he would leave the jewellery business to pursue a career with animals.

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Gerbil D.I.Y Section

In our gerbil D.I.Y section there are many projects that you can do, from simple bottle holders through to ambitious projects like building high rise gerbil accomodation.

Click here to visit the Gerbil D.I.Y. pages