Appearance
Most round-tailed ground squirrels are very small. Weight at birth is approximately 3.9 grams . Adults weigh around 125 grams . All have a long round tail and long, hairy hind feet. They have no fur markings, instead having a uniform sandy color, which matches the soil they burrow in. The underside of their body is usually a lighter shade. Round tailed squirrels average 204 to 278 millimetres in length including the tail which is from 60 to 112 millimetres long.Behavior
Ground squirrels are well-adapted to desert life. They can stay active even on the hottest of days, although they do tend to limit their activity during the heat of the afternoon sun. They live underground in the winter, typically from late August or September until January or February. They go into torpor, but do not hibernate.They have a semicolonial social structure, and will alert others of impending danger with a high-pitched alarm call. But they will chase away other ground squirrels who get too close to their own burrow. The males are dominant during the breeding season . The females dominate during raising of the young .Food
They are omnivores. The bulk of their diet is green vegetation, especially in the summer. They also eat seeds and insects . Most of their foods are chosen for high water content because of the shortage of available water in their environment. The average water content of the food they eat is 80%.References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
