Washington ground squirrel

Description

The Washington ground squirrel (Urocitellus washingtoni) is a squirrel that lives in the Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon, United States. The Washington ground squirrel lives in sagebrush or grassland habitats in the Columbia River Basin of Washington and Oregon. Washington ground squirrels hibernate / estivate 7–8 months each year. Adults breed shortly after emergence from hibernation in January or February and juveniles emerge from the natal burrow in March. Juveniles disperse away from the natal burrow and settle into new areas. All Washington ground squirrels gain weight and prepare for hibernation in late spring and early summer. Juveniles immerge for estivation in June or July, and adults begin estivating earlier, often in June. One radiotracking study focused on dispersal of Washington ground squirrels. It found that 72% percent of juvenile males dispersed in April. Dispersal distances ranged from 40 to 3521 meters and the median dispersal distance was 880 meters. Twenty to 56% of radio-collared juvenile squirrels survived to estivation. Raptors and badgers were the primary causes of mortality. Survival rates of dispersers were higher than non-dispersers, mostly due to badger predation on natal sites. The species is listed as endangered in Oregon and is a candidate for endangered species listing in the United States, but is not currently listed. The IUCN formerly listed the species as vulnerable, but currently it is listed as near threatened. Urocitellus is a genus of ground squirrels. They were previously believed to belong to the much larger genus Spermophilus, but DNA sequencing of the cytochrome b gene showed that this group was paraphyletic to the prairie dogs and marmots, and could therefore no longer be retained as a single genus. As a result, Urocitellus is now considered as a genus in its own right. All but two species are native to the northern and western parts of North America, from California and Minnesota through the north-western United States and western Canada; the Arctic ground squirrel inhabits Arctic terrain on both sides of the Bering Strait, while the long-tailed ground squirrel is exclusively found in Asia. The name of the genus is said to be derived from the Latin uro, meaning "tail" and citellus for "ground squirrel". The proper word for "tail" in classical Latin is cauda. Oura is the ancient Greek word for "tail".