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The Arctic ground squirrel typically has a beige-tan pelage with a lightly-spotted backside. Similar to the related prairie dog, it has a shorter face than the typical arboreal squirrels–due to its lifestyle of burrowing–as well as smaller ears, with a dark tail and white markings around the eyes.
Grey squirrels, or Eastern grey squirrels, primarily live in the Eastern half of the U.S. and southern Canada. There is also a healthy population in the U.K., where they were imported in the 19th ...
Urocitellus is a genus of ground squirrels.They were previously believed to belong to the much larger genus Spermophilus, but DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene showed that this group was paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots, [2] [3] and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus.
The slightly larger Rio Grande ground squirrel has nine or 10 rows of non-bordered, distinct, white, square spots; whereas, the spotted ground squirrel’s fur has a more cinnamon dorsal color and ...
Thirteen-lined ground squirrels can survive in hibernation for over six months without food or water and special physiological adaptations allow them to do so. [6] They alternate between torpor bouts of 7 to 10 days when their body temperatures drops to 5-7°C, and interbout arousals of less than 24 hours with their body temperature back to 37 ...
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most commonly used to pass through winter months – called overwintering.
However, when animals live in an environment that is inhospitable for much of the year, then hibernation is not necessary. One of the few animals that does so are lemmings, which have a mass migration after they come out of dormancy. However, most animals living in the arctic would still be active, even during the most brutal times of winter.
Ground squirrels are rodents of the squirrel family that generally live on the ground or in burrows, rather than in trees like the tree squirrels.The term is most often used for the medium-sized ground squirrels, as the larger ones are more commonly known as marmots (genus Marmota) or prairie dogs, while the smaller and less bushy-tailed ground squirrels tend to be known as chipmunks (genus ...