A tale of two jirds : the locomotory activity patterns of the King jird (Meriones rex) and Lybian jird (Meriones lybicus) from Saudi Arabia

The animal–environment interaction is complex, and the ability to temporally organise locomotor activity provides adaptive and survival advantages. We investigated daily and circadian locomotor activity patterns of two jird species from Arabia occurring in dramatically different environments to determine the environmental effect on activity. The King jird occurs in mountainous regions of Azir where climatic conditions are cool and wet, while the Libyan jird inhabits low-lying hot sandy deserts where temperatures exceed 45 °C during summer.