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Conservation Status:
The Idaho ground squirrel is Endangered; the subspecies Spermophilus brunneus brunneus, the northern Idaho ground squirrel, is Critically Endangered and the subspecies S. brunneus endemicus, the southern Idaho ground squirrel, is Vulnerable.
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| The Idaho Ground Squirrel is the only mammal endemic to Idaho. One subspecies, Spermophilus brunneus brunneus, lives only in about two dozen mountain meadows, and in 1998, biologists counted only 500 of them. Other subspecies may fare better, but the life of a ground squirrel is perilous. Only 40-60 percent of the adults survive their 8-9 month hibernation, and mortality is as high as 90 percent for juveniles. Females can mate for only a few hours a year, shortly after they emerge from hibernation. After mating (in the burrow) males guard the females from other males, which exposes the males to predation by prairie falcons and goshawks.
Also known as:
Idaho Spotted Ground Squirrel
Sexual Dimorphism:
Males are slightly larger than females.
Length:
Average:
233 mm
Range:
209-258 mm
Weight:
Range:
120-290 g
References:
Howell, A.H., 1928. Descriptions of six new North American ground squirrels, p. 211. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 41:211-214.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
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