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{{Taxobox
| image = Rhombomys opimus 1.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref=<ref name=iucn>{{IUCN |first=S.|last=Shar|first2= D. |last2=Lkhagvasuren |first3= S.|last3= Molur |year=2008 |id=19686 |title=''Rhombomys opimus'' |downloaded=28 May 2012 |version=2011.2}}</ref>
| fossil_range = {{fossil_range|Late Pliocene|Recent}}
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
| ordo = [[Rodent]]ia
| familia = [[Muridae]]
| subfamilia = [[Gerbil]]linae
| genus = '''''Rhombomys'''''
| genus_authority = [[Johann Andreas Wagner|Wagner]], 1841
| species = '''''R. opimus'''''
| binomial = ''Rhombomys opimus''
| binomial_authority = ([[Martin Lichtenstein|Lichtenstein]], 1823)
}}

The '''great gerbil''' (''Rhombomys opimus'') is a large [[gerbil]] found throughout much of [[Central Asia]].

==Description==
The largest of the gerbils, great gerbils have a head and body length of {{convert|15|-|20|cm|0|abbr=on}}. Their [[skull]]s are distinctive by having two grooves in each [[incisor]]. They have large front claws used for burrowing.<ref name=Smith>{{cite book|author1=Smith, Andrew T.|author2=Xie, Yan|author3=Hoffmann, Robert S.|author4=Lunde, Darrin|author5=MacKinnon, John|author6=Wilson, Don E.|author7=Wozencraft, W. Chris|title=A Guide to the Mammals of China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ka-9f68nPT4C&pg=PA251 |year=2010 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=1-4008-3411-2 |page=251}}</ref>

==Taxonomy==
Largely ignored in Western taxonomies of rodents, the great gerbil was recognized as a species separate from the [[Mongolian gerbil|common gerbil]] in the 1960s, after the work of the American zoologist Sarah Cheeseman, primarily because of their ability to host and transmit different bacteria and viruses.

==Distribution and habitat==
Great gerbils are found in arid habitats, predominantly in sandy or clay [[desert]]s. They are found in [[Turkmenistan]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Mongolia]], [[China]], [[Pakistan]], [[Afghanistan]], and [[Iran]].<ref name=iucn/>

==Ecology and behavior==
Great gerbils live in family groups and occupy one burrow per family.<ref name="Randall">{{cite journal|last1=Randall|first1=J.A.|title=Flexible social structure of a desert rodent, Rhombomys opimus: philopatry, kinship, and ecological constraints.|journal=Behavioral Ecology|date=2005|volume=16|issue=6|pages=961–973|doi=10.1093/beheco/ari078}}</ref> Their burrows can be fairly extensive with separate chambers for nests and food storage. Great gerbils spend considerably more time in the burrows during winter, but do not [[Hibernation|hibernate]]. They are predominantly [[diurnal animal|diurnal]]. Food consists mostly of vegetable matter.<ref name=Smith/>

The animals are often colonial. [[Longevity]] is 2–4 years. Burrow system complexes have a distinctive region of cleared soil and can be seen and mapped from aerial photos and satellite images.<ref name="Wilschut">{{cite journal|last1=Wilschut|first1=L.I.|last2=Addink|first2=E.A.|last3=Heesterbeek|first3=J.A.P.|last4=Dubyanskiy|first4=V.M.|last5=Davis|first5=S.A|last6=Laudisoit|first6=A.|last7=Begon|first7=M.|last8=Burdelov|first8=L.A.|last9=Atshabar|first9=B.B|last10=de Jong|first10=S.M.|title=Mapping the distribution of the main host for plague in a complex landscape in Kazakhstan: An object-based approach using SPOT-5 XS, Landsat 7 ETM+, SRTM and multiple Random Forests|journal=International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation|date=2013|volume=23|pages=81–94|doi=10.1016/j.jag.2012.11.007}}</ref>

Great gerbils are known reservoirs of ''[[Yersinia pestis]]'', the bacterium that causes [[Bubonic plague|plague]], and of ''[[Leishmania major]]'', the causative agent of [[Zoonosis|zoonotic]] [[cutaneous leishmaniasis]]. They are also known as [[agriculture|crop]] [[Pest (organism)|pests]] and have been implicated in exacerbating [[erosion]].

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book|last=Nowak|first= R. M. |year=1999|title=Walker's Mammals of the World|volume= 2|publisher= Johns Hopkins University Press|location= London}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Rhombomys opimus|''Rhombomys opimus''}}

{{Gerbillinae|G1.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2011}}

[[Category:Gerbils]]
[[Category:Mammals of Asia]]
[[Category:Mammals of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Mammals of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Mammals of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Mammals of Mongolia]]
[[Category:Mammals of Turkmenistan]]
[[Category:Mammals of the Middle East|Gerbil, Great]]
[[Category:Animals described in 1823]]

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