Townsend's Ground Squirrel
Townsend's ground squirrles have unbelievably long hibernation periods. They can literally hibernate up to eight months! A little shorter for warmer, wet periods or longer for colder, dry periods. This means that most of their lives they are deeply asleep in their underground burrows, followed by a quick summer of breeding and eating as much as they can while avoiding hawks, falcons, coyotes, rattlesnakes, gopher snakes, crows and other predators. Furthermore, because of human encroachment and development, they are now listed as a vulnerable species (the lightest level on the threatened status).
- Copyright
- © 2014
- Image Size
- 4622x3081 / 9.5MB
- Keywords
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America, Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Pacific NW, Rodentia, Sciuridae, Selah, Spermophilus, Spermophilus townsendii, Spring, Townsend's ground squirrel, U. townsendii, USA, United States, Urocitellus, Urocitellus townsendii, Washington, Yakima County, adorable, animal, beautiful, beauty, beige, brown, cute, environment, fauna, ground squirrel, habitat, inland, mammal, native, natural, nature, rest stop, rodent, squirrel, vertebrate, wild, wilderness, wildlife, zoology
- Contained in galleries
- Squirrels, Chipmunks, and Marmots (Sciurids)
