The Jelba is a jerboa-like non-sapient animal native to the Jeroban homeworld, a desert planet known as Danajarba (aka Cygnus Prime). The Jelba has also been introduced either intentionally or accidentally to the Jeroban colony worlds of Hadarra and Thanadarra, as well as the Almaki/Kurakalak homeworld, Alamak.

As Danajarba has somewhat limited biodiversity, the Jelba is nearly ubiquitous, being well-adapted to the planet's harsh desert conditions. This means the creature is seen as equal part pest, companion, and food, filling a niche similar to rabbits on Earth. They are omnivorous, eating all manner of plant matter, seeds, bugs, and whatever other edible things they can find.

As a companion animal, they can be trained to follow some simple verbal commands, and their own vocalizations consist of various squeaks and chirps and whistles. As food, the meat is typically lean. The fur and hide are soft and useful for crafting, and the tails are sometimes kept as trophies and used for decoration in a manner similar to humans' use of raccoon, fox, or squirrel tails. Their tendencies to eat whatever is available, including crops, decorative plants, stored foods and even some building materials means they are often considered pests, even in the large futuristic megacities of Danajarba, where they've filled an ecological niche similar to rats or raccoons.

Their body is typically about 12 inches/30cm long, not counting the ears, while the tail is usually about 1.5x the length of the body

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I've been feeling super unmotivated and uninspired art-wise lately, so I decided to start doing some critter art again, both existing critters and some new designs, so expect to see more of them in the future.