---
title: "Fat Sand Rat"
description: "Psammomys obesus — Mamíferos. The fat sand rat (Psammomys obesus) is a terrestrial mammal from the gerbil subfamily that is mostly found in North Africa and the Middle East, ranging from Mauritania to the Arabian Peninsula."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pt/animal/fat-sand-rat
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Fat Sand Rat

> Psammomys obesus — Mamíferos. The fat sand rat (Psammomys obesus) is a terrestrial mammal from the gerbil subfamily that is mostly found in North Africa and the Middle East, ranging from Mauritania to the Arabian Peninsula.

- Scientific name: *Psammomys obesus*
- Category: `mammals` (Mamíferos)
- Habitats: `desert` (Deserto)
- iNaturalist observations: 321
- Wikidata: [Q1409213](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1409213)
- iNaturalist taxon: [45734](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/45734)

## Names

- en: Fat Sand Rat
- de: Fette Sandratte
- es: Jird gordo
- fr: Rat de sable diurne
- pl: Piaskówka tłusta

## Countries with the most observations

MA (183), IL (43), DZ (14), EH (10), MR (6), JO (5), TN (5)

## Summary

The fat sand rat (Psammomys obesus) is a terrestrial mammal from the gerbil subfamily that is mostly found in North Africa and the Middle East, ranging from Mauritania to the Arabian Peninsula. This species usually lives in sandy deserts, but may also be found in rocky terrain or saline marsh areas. Fat sand rats are very selective in their diet, only eating stems and leaves of plants from the family Amaranthaceae, more commonly known as the amaranth family.  In captivity, fat sand rats can become obese and rapidly develop diabetes-like symptoms when fed the diet typically given to other rodents. P. obesus has an…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_sand_rat

## Photo

![Fat Sand Rat](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/fat-sand-rat/medium.jpg)

Photo: Philip Precey · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/251680860

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/fat-sand-rat?lang=pt` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).