Ground Squirrels - Tumblr Posts

Day 22 of posting cute creatures we found on our field trip:

Ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) is an endangered species in the Balkans. That day of the field trip we had the opportunity to work with an expert in their biology. She regularly catches and marks the individuals so that she can monitor their health and behavior. The ground squirrels get regular check ups, which is why she’s holding this one. This little girl had a big tick and she carefully removed it.

Ground squirrels are small, burrowing rodents that feed on seeds, plants and roots. People believe that they cause damage to the crops, but that simply isn’t the truth. These animals hate and I mean hate tall vegetation. Our crops are simply too tall for them. They live only in places where grass is growing shorter than they are when they stand up and that’s like 10-15cm.

Nevertheless, people still kill these rodents, so we put strict protection of them. Any place they inhabit is immediately labeled as “of high importance for protection”. And for a good reason!

Ground squirrels are the favorite food of many birds of prey. The moment we managed to stabilize their populations birds of prey that were extinct in that region immediately returned. Now people can go birdwatching five different species of raptors all thanks to their cute food source.

And that’s not all! Ground squirrels, just like all the others, hibernate during winter and prepare stocks of seeds for food. And since they feed on short plants they actually can expand pastures and fields. This is not only great for grazing animals, but it also deters rats and mice who hate open spaces from crops. Yes, these babies actually protect crops just by being themselves.

And if you’re wondering how are they caught: there are special traps made only for them. These traps look like cylindrical cage that you put into their burrow’s opening. The burrow can have many openings so you have to have many traps. Once the ground squirrel gets inside the trap the doors close behind it. It remains completely unhurt, but it can freeze quickly, so the researchers have to be on the field constantly to check the traps. Here’s how the girl in the first pic looked inside a trap. She was not happy, but at least, she got a health check and a tick removed:

Oh and, even though they are called “ground squirrels” they completely lack the fluffy tail. So don’t worry, she’s just fine.