Behavior
The Speckled ground squirrel is a diurnal species which hibernates from October to April. It is active in the morning once the sun warms the area slightly, retreats to its underground den during the heat of the day, then reemerges late in the day for another feeding bout. It feeds mostly on grasses and cereals, although small vertebrates and arthropods are also eaten.
Compared with other Spermophilus species, it lives in a relatively closed habitat with high grasses that block visibility during its active seasons. Individuals live in separate burrows within a larger colony. These colonies can be up to over 160 individuals per ha. It mates between April and May. Gestation ranges from 23 to 26 days. Four to eight cubs are born per litter. Sporadic hybridization occurs where S. suslicus occurs sympatrically with S. pygmaeus and S. citellus.
Read more about this topic: Speckled Ground Squirrel
Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“As long as male behavior is taken to be the norm, there can be no serious questioning of male traits and behavior. A norm is by definition a standard for judging; it is not itself subject to judgment.”
—Myriam Miedzian, U.S. author. Boys Will Be Boys, ch. 1 (1991)
“There are ... two minimum conditions necessary and sufficient for the existence of a legal system. On the one hand those rules of behavior which are valid according to the system’s ultimate criteria of validity must be generally obeyed, and on the other hand, its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behavior by its officials.”
—H.L.A. (Herbert Lionel Adolphus)
“If you are willing to inconvenience yourself in the name of discipline, the battle is half over. Leave Grandma’s early if the children are acting impossible. Depart the ballpark in the sixth inning if you’ve warned the kids and their behavior is still poor. If we do something like this once, our kids will remember it for a long time.”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)