Artificial intelligent assistant

Identification of a small mammal Could someone help with identification of this small mammal? Is it a possum? A dormouse? It was photographed in Sukhumi botanical garden, in Abkhazia (west of Georgia, on the shores of the black sea). ![enter image description here](

This is not a marsupial such as an opossum, since no marsupials are native to the region. It looks to be a rodent of some kind, probably a species in the Muridae family.

Which species is it is exactly is hard to tell, since there are many species in Muridae which look quite similar, but my best guess is that this is a **Tamarisk jird**. It could also conceivably be an escaped domestic gerbil or some type of mouse. The one that you found has more pronounced light areas on its coat than the photographs I found, but is within reasonable limits of what variation can be expected.

Here are some of the few pictures I was able to find that I could verify were of this species.

![enter image description here](

_Klaus Rudloff_ (source)

![enter image description here](

_Klaus Rudloff_ (source)

xcX3v84RxoQ-4GxG32940ukFUIEgYdPy 1554046986325fe5c33432782e1a3a66