Their physical and anatomical characteristics are tightly connected to their behavior. Being in a semiarid desert environment, their major concern is finding shelter from the hot sun and sand. They are able to use their long claws to burrow into the soil during the day when temperatures are too hot. Once the sun goes down and temperatures drop, their concern switches to finding food and water. Their large sensitive eyes and ears give them the ability to successfully hunt at night as well as to evade any predators, such as snakes. Their large ears contain membranes much similar looking to a tragus in bats to keep sand out of their ears when they burrow, as well as increase their ability to pick up vibrations of predators and prey through the sand. They lure prey such as grasshoppers using their white haired tipped tail which simulated a plant. Once within sight, the American Rhingon uses its claws to quickly grab and hold onto its prey. American Rhingon’s are able to stay hydrated by using their elongated noses, much like an elephant, to consume dew that accumulates on the shrubs after the dramatic temperature changes during night and day. This species has a reduced number of sweat glands that has been adapted to conserve water. Since they have a limited number of sweat glands to keep cool, they apply a coat of saliva on their body using their tail as a brush to spread the saliva
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