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California ground squirrel - SPERMOPHILUS BEECHEYI
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Squirrel": "Squirrel" comes from the Middle English word
"squyrel," which came from the Greek "skiouros" for the animal.
Notice that the family name for these animals is "Sciuridae," which
may also be the derivation of our word "scurry."
Location: California and Oregon.
Habitat: Pastureland with short-stemmed vegetation; slopes of mountains with scattered trees.
Description: The dense coat is brown with small white spots on the back. The head is brown and the sides of the body whitish. The tail is thick and bushy with a tuft at the end. The female usually has 12 nipples. Length of head and body is eleven inches, and the tail up to nine inches. It can weigh over two pounds.
Behavior: This squirrel lives in colonies. It is active during the day and feeds on seeds, fruit, berries, insects, and birds' eggs. It stores food in its underground burrow, which has several entrances. Between these entrances on the surface of the ground there is a network of connecting tracks and paths. The chambers built to contain the nest itself are lined with dry vegetation. This is where this species hibernates from about October through to January.
Reproduction: The young are born in spring, summer, and autumn. The gestation period lasts for about a month, and there are on average seven young per litter. More than one litter may be born in a year.
Go to the Rodents Page to learn more about all the gnawing animals.
Or go to the Squirrel Index to study other
squirrels.
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