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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.
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 ...
California ground squirrels deviating from a steady diet of nuts, seeds or grains was "shocking," said Jennifer E. Smith, study lead and associate professor of biology at UW-Eau Claire. "We had ...
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 ...
Ground squirrels' activity cycle makes them not aggressive or competitive. Their main activities include caring for newborn, finding better protection for their resources, and reducing predation. They chase each other and nuzzle each other. [5] The greatest predator of the ground squirrel is a snake—the type of snake varying by the locality.
Squirrels can cache as many as 3,000 nuts each season, but remembering where all the nuts are stored seems impossible. Unlike most small mammals whose brains shrink during winter due to reduced ...
Urocitellus canus - Merriam's ground squirrel; Urocitellus columbianus - Columbian ground squirrel; Urocitellus elegans - Wyoming ground squirrel; Urocitellus endemicus - Southern Idaho ground squirrel; Urocitellus mollis - Piute ground squirrel; Urocitellus parryii - Arctic ground squirrel; Urocitellus richardsonii - Richardson's ground ...