Woosnams desert rat

Introduction: Richard Bowen Woosnam (1880-1915) was a British soldier, traveller and naturalist. In 1903, after serving in the army during the South African War, he started collecting animals for the British Museum for Natural History and the Zoological Society of London. One such specimen was Woosnam's desert rat (Zelotomys woosnami).

It is an agile climber and occurs on open shrub found on sandy ground, scattered with Acacia, Grewia and Terminilia trees, which they jump from branch to branch using the tail to balance. They live in holes dug under shrubs and trees and sometimes occupy burrows made by gerbils.

Distribution: Semi-arid regions of the Kalahari Desert and savannah woodland areas of north and eastern Namibia, but not beyond the Kunene or Zambezi Rivers.

Diet: Grass seeds and insects.

Colouring: Fine and silky drab grey fur, with black pencilling and plain, paler flanks. Upper surfaces of hands and feet, tail and belly are white.

Breeding: Pups are born from December to March with litters numbering from between 5 and 11. Pink at birth, hair grows by day 6, incisors between 10 and 12 days and ears and eyes open by day 16. Activity by the pups increases from this day.

Size: Total head and body length is 138mm

Tail: 115mm.

Weight: 57g