Albertans Have, for Years, Claimed That Alberta is Rat Free; However Both Muskrats and the RD’S KANGAROO RAT are Indigenous to Alberta.

Their homes on the range are becoming rare.

Unique rodent can live without water, but can’t survive with man.

Dipodomys ordii

Status: Vulnerable

Main threat: Agriculture, habitat degradation and fragmentation.

Numbers: Varies with moisture conditions, but overall the population is considered to be low in Canada, no more than a few thousand.

Range and Habitat: Sand dunes and hard packed soils of arid grassland environment of southwestern Alberta and south eastern Saskatchewan.

Size: 50 to 96 grams.

Breeding habits: May produce young once or twice a year, one to six born after gestation of 28 to 30 days.

Lifespan: Can live in captivity for up to seven years, but few in the wild survive beyond a year or two.

Outlook for survival: Fair to good if enough of the sand hills and arid regions of southern Prairies are left undisturbed.

In the fall of 1993, rancher Danny Fieldberg was ploughing some land on his property in southern Alberta when up popped some creatures hopping about like miniature kangaroos.

Fieldberg counted six in all and managed to catch one. He then phoned the local Fish and Wildlife office and asked if someone could come and look. The wildlife officer was initially sceptical. But not only did he end up seeing one of the miniature kangaroos running along a furrow, he concluded after further investigation that the creatures were denning on the property.

To many people, the Ord’s kangaroo rat is a figment of the imagination — something children in southern Alberta conjure up when they encounter large field mice in the barn.

"They’re like a fairy tale," says Fieldberg.

"I remember seeing a few in the bale stacks when I was a kid. But talk to most people down here, they’ll tell you that they don’t exist in southern Alberta."

Fearing he might bring harm to the kangaroo rats, Fieldberg decided to forgo ploughing the 20 hectares of land.

He never thought much about it until a young University of Calgary student came looking to rent his farmhouse some time later. David Gummer had answered a call from a professor who said the Committee on the Status of Endangered Species in Canada was having trouble finding someone to do a status report on the kangaroo rat.

"I got the job because no one else seemed to know anything about them," says Gummer.

"I had just started research on them at the Suffield Military Reserve, and just by coincidence, I went to see Danny about renting his place. I knew nothing at the time about his report to Fish and Wildlife until he told me the story later.

Gummer says that when he grew up in Regina, the only time he ever heard about the kangaroo rat was in school, where the animal’s ability to go without water for most of its life was extolled.

"Most people on the Prairies will tell you they know nothing of the species," he says. "But there’s a reason for that. There are only a few places in south eastern Alberta, and southwestern Saskatchewan, where you can find them. And because they are nocturnal, you’re not likely to see them unless they’re out at night or if they disturb their dens during the day."