When the cat is away, the mouse will play. Luckily, someone found the more often than not elusive jumping mouse when it made an appearance in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

According to Want China Times, a Xinjiang man has found a dwarf three-toad jerboa, which he nicknamed "jumping mouse" — the tiniest and perhaps the cutest rodent in the entire world.

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All eyes are now glued on to the rare discovery, which was found by bird lover Chen Wenjie while he as driving in Hotan prefecture.

In his interview with local media, Chen revealed that the tiny mouse made its appearance under the car lights. Because the animal was pretty petite and slender, Chen placed it into an empty bottle and took it back home.

The jumping mouse is known to be the world's tiniest rodent because its body is just a little bigger than a bottled water cap. Given its size, it is not surprising that it only weighs similar to one yuan coin. Adding to its cuteness is its pig-like face, China.org.cn has learned.

The tail of the mouse is quite long, it is two times the length of the body because it stores fat.

"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," Chen told reporters.

Researcher Jiang Wei was the one who identified the jumping mouse and according to him, this species can typically be found in the southern Xinjiang deserts.

Authorities noted that the jerboa also live in Gansu, Inner Mongolia and other foreign countries like Kazakhstan.

Interestingly, it appears that the rodent stays true to the nickname Wenjie gave it, "jumping mouse," because it travels the desert by long hops. 

Its life span is known to be approximately two years and they are only capable of giving birth to three to four offspring annually, as per Xinhuanet. 

Despite the striking discovery of a cute little pet by Wenjie, he said that he has since released the creature so it can enjoy freedom for the rest of its life.

TagsJumping Mouse, Xinjiang