Dwarf three-toed jerboa considered as the smallest rodent in the world has been found in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Chen Wenjie, a bird lover, was driving on a village road in Hotan Prefecture, when he discovered a ‘jumping mouse’.

The mouse having a pig-like face and a body bit larger than bottled water’s cap stopped in front of Chen’s car. Chen picked the mouse and put it into an empty bottle and brought it back home.

Chen stated, “It's a sleepy creature and only comes out of the bottle at night. In an extreme case, it slept for around 17 hours in one day, wrapping its long tail around its neck and ignoring all noises”.

Researcher Jiang Wei from the center for disease control and prevention in Xinjiang said that the found creature is not a mouse. In reality, it is a dwarf three-toed jerboa, a species of rodent that generally is found in the deserts of southern Xinjiang.

The rodent moves over the habitat by long hops. It boasts of a long tail that is twice its body length. The rodent has a very small body owing to which it has to store additional fat in the tail.

The jerboa, which lives for around two years, has only three to four offspring every year. The newborns are the size of a peanut kernel. Chen said that he has released the creature.