(no subject)

So, for reasons that need not be explored at this juncture*, I've been looking up the public versions of the reports that research labs have to file with the USDA describing what animals they use and what category of testing those animals have undergone. The reports include a table that has the specifically regulated animals, plus a few spaces to specify "other animals", and the labs are supposed to mark how many of each kind of animal they have.

I just found a report that, under "other animals", wrote "Mongolian gerbils." They then listed the number of animals as 0. Presumably there are MANY species of animals that this lab does not house...so why do they SPECIFICALLY SAY they have no Mongolian gerbils?!

The mystery deepens, by the way, when you know that the Mongolian gerbil is the most common kind of gerbil.

(I am sure there is a perfectly mundane explanation, but baseless speculation is more fun!)

*making a sporcle quiz (kill me now)