#ground squirrel

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel Ictidomys tridecemlineatus

A species of hibernating ground squirrel that is widely distributed over grasslands and prairies of North America. Its primary diet includes grass and weed seeds, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and crickets. In late summer, it puts on a heavy layer of fat and stores some food in its burrow. It enters its nest in October, rolls into a stiff ball, and decreases its respiration from between 100 and 200 breaths per minute to one breath about every five minutes.

A Richardson's ground squirrel feasting on grasses.

𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝖺 𝗐𝗂𝗌𝗁 💫

A Ground Squirrel smells a flower, 2019

Mammoth-sized marmot spotted in Kamloops park, BC, Canada

Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventer), family Sciuridae Kamloops resident Taylor Borth was exploring a park in Kamloops with her camera over the weekend and came upon the fattest marmot she has ever seen.  “When I rounded the corner and spotted him, I audibly gasped, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she said. “He just stared back at me like…what? And then turned around to flop down on the ground. He didn’t even run away as I walked by him although I don’t think he had the ability to.” The obese marmot lives at McArthur Island Park on the north side of the city where there is a large marmot population and residents are known to feed them, despite a bylaw against it. Borth concluded the marmot is a male as the males are far bigger than the females, while some commenters on her social media post that has blown up suggested the marmot could be pregnant...