Long-eared jerboa. (Photo: VCG) 

If you remember seeing a mouse-like rodent with long tail, long legs and extremely long ears — long enough to remind you of Mickey Mouse —  then its highly probable that you had an encounter with the long-eared jerboa.

Long-eared jerboas (Euchoreutes Naso) have three special features: long tail, long legs and long ears. They have a tiny body, only 7-9 centimeters in length, but their tail can be as much as twice the size of their body. They have long hind legs that help them jump several meters. In addition, the long-eared jerboa is believed to have the largest ear-to-body ratio in the animal world. Their ears are two-third the length of their body.

It is difficult to come across a jerboa in the urban setting as the species lives in desert areas, mainly in the Gobi Desert and Altai Mountains of China and Mongolia. It's a nocturnal animal that comes out during nighttime to look for food and sleeps during daytime in underground tunnels.

Factors attributable to human impacts and environmental changes have landed long-eared jerboas in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list of the world's 100 most endangered species. Destruction of jerboas' natural habitat due an increased human occupation of deserts has caused a reduction in their population. Droughts and drying up of water sources caused by global warming have also put jerboas at risk.