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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 .
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. [2]
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 ...
They are extremely important in the food chain, being important to the diet of many animals such as the black-footed ferret, swift fox, golden eagle, red tailed hawk, American badger, and coyote. Other species, such as the golden-mantled ground squirrel , mountain plover , and the burrowing owl , also rely on prairie dog burrows for nesting areas.
The Arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii) (Inuktitut: ᓯᒃᓯᒃ, siksik) [2] is a species of ground squirrel native to the Arctic and Subarctic of North America and Asia. People in Alaska , particularly around the Aleutians, refer to them as "parka" squirrels, most likely because their pelt is good for the ruff on parkas and for clothing.
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, [1] and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus.
Otospermophilus is a genus of ground squirrels in the family Sciuridae, containing three species from Mexico and the United States. Otospermophilus was formerly placed in the large ground squirrel genus Spermophilus, as a subgenus or species group.
The Mohave ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus mohavensis) is a species of ground squirrel found only in the Mojave Desert in California. [1] The squirrel was first described in 1886 by Frank Stephens of San Diego. [2] It is listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act, but not under the federal Endangered Species Act.