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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.
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.
Hibernating Arctic ground squirrels may exhibit abdominal temperatures as low as −2.9 °C (26.8 °F), maintaining sub-zero abdominal temperatures for more than three weeks at a time, although the temperatures at the head and neck remain at 0 °C (32 °F) or above. [14]
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 ...
It includes all known species that have had their tissues partially preserved within the permafrost layer of the Arctic and Subarctic. Most went extinct during the Late Pleistocene extinctions while some are still extant today. They have been listed to the most specific known taxonomic rank.
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.
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A hibernaculum (plural form: hibernacula) (Latin, "tent for winter quarters") is a place in which an animal seeks refuge, such as a bear using a cave to overwinter.The word can be used to describe a variety of shelters used by many kinds of animals, including insects, toads, lizards, snakes, bats, rodents, and primates of various species.