Small five-toed jerboa
Allactaga elater (Lichtenstein, 1828)
Status not recordedrodents
The small five-toed jerboa (Allactaga elater) is a species in the family Dipodidae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh 58.7 g to 59 g and live up to 5.18 years.

Quick facts about the small five-toed jerboa
- Weight
- 59 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 5.18 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 5.2 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4.66 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the small five-toed jerboa live?
Not recorded
What is the small five-toed jerboa?
The small five-toed jerboa (Scarturus elater) is a rodent of the family Dipodidae and genus Scarturus, that has five digits. They are hopping rodents of the rocky deserts in Asia. They have been found in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan. They have long hind feet, short forelimbs, and walk upright. The jerboa body length ranges from 5–15 cm and has a tail ranging from 7–25 cm. They have large ears in comparison to their body size and a large tail. The tail assists and serves as support when the jerboa is standing upright. These hopping rodents can reach a speed up to 48 km/h. The forelimbs of the jerboa serve as a pair of hands for feeding, grooming, etc. The male jerboa is usually larger in size and weight in comparison to the female jerboa. The pelt of the jerboa is either silky or velvety in texture and light in color, the coloration helps camouflage into surroundings to avoid predators. "Its coloration varies from sandy or buff to dark russet or black with pale under parts and a white strip on the hip”.
From the Wikipedia article “Small five-toed jerboa” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Small_five-toed_jerboa&oldid=1374708101), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the small five-toed jerboa endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the small five-toed jerboa classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyDipodidae
- genusAllactaga
- SpeciesAllactaga elater (Lichtenstein, 1828)
Synonyms Allactaga aralychensis, Allactaga bactriana, Allactaga elater caucasicus, Allactaga elater dzungariae, Allactaga elater heptneri, Allactaga elater kizljaricus, Allactaga elater strandi, Allactaga elater turkmeni, Allactaga elater zaisanicus, Allactaga indica, Alladaga elater caucasicus, Alladaga elater heptneri, Alladaga elater kizljaricus, Alladaga elater strandi, Alladaga elater turkmeni, Alladaga elater zaisanicus, Dipus elater, Microallactaga elater, Scarturus elater
Other names and names in other languages (1)
- Zwerg-PferdespringerGerman
Relatives of the small five-toed jerboa
Other species in the same genus Allactaga.

Great jerboa
Allactaga major

Mongolian five-toed jerboa
Allactaga sibirica
Euphrates jerboa
Allactaga euphratica
Hotson's jerboa
Allactaga hotsoni

Four-toed jerboa
Allactaga tetradactyla
Balikun jerboa
Allactaga balikunica
CompareSmall five-toed jerboa vs Great jerboaSmall five-toed jerboa vs Mongolian five-toed jerboaSmall five-toed jerboa vs Euphrates jerboaSmall five-toed jerboa vs Hotson's jerboa
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the small five-toed jerboa?
An adult small five-toed jerboa weighs 59 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the small five-toed jerboa live?
The small five-toed jerboa has a recorded lifespan of 5.18 years.
What kind of animal is the small five-toed jerboa?
The small five-toed jerboa (Allactaga elater) belongs to the family Dipodidae in the order Rodentia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- 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).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Small five-toed jerboa (Allactaga elater). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/small-five-toed-jerboa
“Small five-toed jerboa (Allactaga elater).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/small-five-toed-jerboa.
@misc{small_five_toed_jerboa_2026,
title = {Small five-toed jerboa (Allactaga elater)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/small-five-toed-jerboa},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}