Desert kangaroo rat

Weight

83 g – 148 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

8.6 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

9 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

29 days – 32 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

3 – 3.29src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

50.9 dayssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

2.5src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

At night (nocturnal)src for Active

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The desert kangaroo rat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderRodentia
5. familyHeteromyidae
6. genusDipodomys
7. SpeciesDipodomys deserti Stephens, 1887

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

CR, Critically Endangered

San Quintin kangaroo rat

Dipodomys gravipes

Heteromyidae

LC, Least Concern

Merriam's kangaroo rat

Dipodomys merriami

Heteromyidae

LC, Least Concern

Ord's kangaroo rat

Dipodomys ordii

Heteromyidae

LC, Least Concern

California kangaroo rat

Dipodomys californicus

Heteromyidae

LC, Least Concern

Gulf coast kangaroo rat

Dipodomys compactus

Heteromyidae

LC, Least Concern

Heermann's kangaroo rat

Dipodomys heermanni

Heteromyidae

CompareDesert kangaroo rat vs San Quintin kangaroo ratDesert kangaroo rat vs Merriam's kangaroo ratDesert kangaroo rat vs Ord's kangaroo ratDesert kangaroo rat vs California kangaroo rat

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{desert_kangaroo_rat_2026,
  title = {Desert kangaroo rat (Dipodomys deserti)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/desert-kangaroo-rat},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}