- Animals
- ›Chordates
- ›Vertebrates
- ›Mammals
- ›Therians
- ›Placental Mammals
- ›Primates, Rodents, and Allies
- ›Rodents
- ›Squirrels, Dormice, and Mountain Beavers
- ›Squirrels
- ›Ground and African Tree Squirrels
- ›Holarctic Ground Squirrels
- ›Xerospermophilus
Round-tailed Ground Squirrel
Xerospermophilus tereticaudus
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.
From the article Round-tailed ground squirrel on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Most round-tailed ground squirrels are very small. Weight at birth is approximately 3.9 grams (0.14 oz). Adults weigh around 125 grams (4.4 oz). All have a long round tail and long, hairy hind feet. They have no fur markings, instead having a uniform sandy color, which matches the soil they burrow in. The underside of their body is usually a lighter shade. Round tailed squirrels average 204 to 278 millimetres (8.0 to 10.9 in) in length including the tail which is from 60 to 112 millimetres (2.4 to 4.4 in) long.
Wikipedia: “Characteristics”
What it does
The gestation period is 28 days. An average of 5.4 pups are born in each litter. They reach sexual maturity at 325 days. There is little information on the longevity of these animals but one wild born specimen lived to approximately 8.9 years in captivity. They are prey animals for coyotes, badgers, hawks and snakes. Round-tailed ground-squirrels have also been found with the Coccidian parasite Eimeria vilasi, normally found in other rodents and Old World marmotine rodents.
Wikipedia: “Life cycle”
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 179993.