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The round-tailed ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus tereticaudus), known as "Ardillón cola redonda" in Spanish, live in the desert of the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. They are called " ground squirrels " because they burrow in loose soil, often under mesquite trees and creosote bushes .
Richardson's ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii), also known as the dakrat or flickertail, is a North American ground squirrel in the genus Urocitellus.Like a number of other ground squirrels, they are sometimes called prairie dogs or gophers, though the latter name belongs more strictly to the pocket gophers of family Geomyidae, and the former to members of the genus Cynomys.
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] and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus.
The vocalization is sometimes confused with that of the horned lark, and, in areas where the two species are sympatric, with round-tailed ground squirrels. Mohave ground squirrels can occasionally be sighted perched in Lycium cooperii or in Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) during mid-morning (9-11 a.m.) hours (April–June) basking in the sun.
Within the genus, the Mohave ground squirrel and the round-tailed ground squirrel were thought to be close relatives, sometimes a subgenus Xerospermophilus, while the spotted ground squirrel and the Perote ground squirrel were formerly placed in the subgenus (now a genus) Ictidomys. [3]
The thirteen-lined ground squirrels have solitary habits, shown by agonistic behaviors to squirrels invading their own areas, which they've evolved, requiring less energy and the risk of getting injuired. Tail-flicking is also evolved from their solitary habits, which allows them not to violate other squirrel individuals' space. [5]
Like many other ground squirrels, the Asia Minor species has a rounded body and head, with short limbs and tail. Males, at 25 to 29 centimetres (9.8 to 11.4 in) in total length and 235 to 490 grams (8.3 to 17.3 oz) in weight, are noticeably larger than females at 23 to 28 centimetres (9.1 to 11.0 in) and 170 to 410 grams (6.0 to 14.5 oz).
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.