University of the Western Cape Study Illuminates Insights into the Indigenous Cape Gerbil Rodent
B.Sc Masters student in Conservation Biology, Kyle Jantjies, said the reason for the small rodent not being a popular topic of study is likely because it is generally regarded as a pest among farmers.
“Farmers often complain about them eating the roots of their crops, as they are burrowing animals,” said Jantjies.
“However, every animal is beneficial to the environment, specifically to the niche in which it belongs. It is a member of the Muridae family and a species endemic to South Africa, particularly to the Western Cape region. Two other gerbil species exist, but occur in other provinces within South Africa.
“With my study I aimed to identify the active ectoparasite present and understand and tease apart relationships among individual genotypes within the Cape Gerbil.
“The study showed a large infestation of Androlaelaps theseus as the dominant mite present on G. afra and identified two distinct clades when comparing the populations from the Cape Flats Nature Reserve and the Koeberg Nature Reserve.
“The clades, which are separate groups on the genetic tree, provide some evidence of forming new species between the populations.”
He said while their main predator is the Barn Owl, the Cape Gerbil are hardy creatures and are not endangered as they have excellent survival skills. Their population is currently threatened by fracturing, which includes developments such as buildings and roads being constructed within their habitats.
Fragmented habitats are the physical barriers to gene flow that may be the driving force for allopatric speciation, when evolution creates a genetically independent group between populations.
“I chose to study gerbils because they are a relatively unknown species of rodent. If you ask the general public what a gerbil is, 80% of them will not know what they are, even though they are quite common creatures,” said Jantjies.
“When the project presented itself to me, I wasn’t very informed about gerbils but as I did my literature review I grew more invested in these creatures. They are extremely cute and docile. You can literally pick them up from the wild and they won’t show any aggression.
“Another thing that piqued my interest was that the Cape Gerbil is the only gerbil of its genre found in the vicinity. Every other species is found further north near Limpopo and there is no interaction between these species.
“I found this very curious and wanted to understand the effect that this had on the gerbil. I also had questions about the effects this small distribution range had on this species – whether inbreeding was taking place or whether there was any evidence of speciation.
“My study concluded that there is some evidence of speciation, however this is not conclusive. A lot more research needs to be done. I studied two populations, one at the Cape Flats Nature Reserve and one at Koeberg and there was evidence of two separate clades forming.
“In studying the mites found on them, I assessed that 97% of the mites (in both nature reserves) were the same species of mite. This means that this species of mite and the gerbil could share a close knit phylogeny – the history of the evolution of a species – as it may be host-specific to the Cape Gerbil.
“I am pleased that this study opens up room for even more study which would be interesting to follow up on.”