Arctic Ground Squirrel -
Spermophilus parryii |
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Characteristics Range Habitat Diet Life Cycle Behavior |
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Characteristics) The Arctic ground squirrel has reddish fur on its face and sides and white specked gray to brown fur on its back. Its belly and the undersides of its legs are a light brown. It has white fur around its eyes and a short, bushy tail. It has strong front paws that are well adapted for digging and burrowing.
RangeIn the United States, the Arctic ground squirrel is found in Alaska. It is also found in Canada in the Yukon Territory, northern British Columbia, and the mainland of the Northwest Territory.HabitatThe arctic ground squirrel lives in alpine and arctic tundra in bushy meadows, riverbanks, lakeshores, and sandbanks.DietThe Arctic ground squirrel is an herbivore. It eats a wide variety of plants including seeds, berries, willow leaves, mushrooms, grasses and flowers. In the summer, it begins to store willow leaves, seeds and grasses in its burrow. The Arctic ground squirrel hibernates in the winter and it uses this store of food after it wakes up while it is waiting for spring plants to grow. The Arctic ground squirrel hibernates for up to seven months, from September through April.
| Reproduction) Arctic ground squirrels mate in May. The female has between five and ten babies. The babies are born blind and hairless in late June. The babies begin to grow hair after about eight days, and their eyes open after about twenty days. They will begin to leave the burrow after their eyes open. The babies are fully weaned by September and leave their mother to find or make a burrow of their own. BehaviorArctic ground squirrels live in colonies of hundreds of squirrels. The colony will have a couple of dominant males that control the territory. Arctic ground squirrels are usually active between four in the afternoon and nine or ten at night. On rainy and cloudy days, they will stay in their burrows.A Arctic ground squirrel colony is made up of burrows that are dug about three feet under the ground. The burrows are connected with a series of tunnels. Grizzly bears often dig a whole system of burrows up to catch the squirrels. Arctic ground squirrels are very vocal. In fact they are called "sik-sik" by the Inupiat Eskimos in Alaska because of the sounds they make!
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