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This species usually lives in sandy deserts, but may also be found in rocky terrain or saline-marsh areas. It lives in burrows which are often located under the bushes in which the rats forage, such as salt bushes of the Chenopodiaceae family.
The Fat Sand Rat is diurnal, but its activity on the surface depends on the ambient temperature.
Medical significance
Sand Rats can easily acquire diabetes mellitus when they are fed a normal rodent diet of grains. Therefore they have been used as an animal model for studies on diabetes.
The presence of Sand Rats in North Africa and the Middle East is of healthcare importance, as this species can harbor the parasite which causes leishmaniasis in humans.
These animals have been studied extensively for their remarkably efficient kidneys: they can produce very concentrated urine which enables them to eat halophyte plants and survive extreme heat and lack of water in their desert habitat
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