The thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus), also known as the striped gopher, leopard ground squirrel, squinney, and as the leopard-spermophile in Audubon's day, is a brownish ground squirrel with 13 alternating brown and whitish longitudinal lines (sometimes partially broken into spots) on back and sides creating rows of whitish spots within dark lines.This species has usually been placed in the genus Spermophilus with about forty other species. As this large genus is paraphyletic to prairie dogs, marmots, and antelope squirrels, Kristofer Helgen and colleagues have split it into eight genera, placing the thirteen-lined ground squirrel in Ictidomys with three other species. The thirteen-lined ground squirrel is the namesake of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers teams, and responsible for Minnesota's nickname as the Gopher State.
Ten Facts about Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
- The thirteen-lined ground squirrel is strictly diurnal and is especially active on warm days.
- Their burrow may be 15 to 20 feet (4.5-6 m) long, with several side passages.
- Home range is 2 to 3 acres (0.8 to 1.2 ha).
- Primary diet includes grass and weed seeds, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and crickets but may also eat mice and shrews.
- It has a maximum running speed of 8 mph (13 km/h), and reverses direction if chased.
- The body temperature of the 13-lined ground squirrel (S. tridecemlineatus) of central North America drops from 37 °C (98.6 °F) to 1 to 3 degrees.
- Newborn baby Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrels are hairless, toothless, and blind.
- Their heartbeat actually changes from 350 beats per minute to 5.
- The squirrels dig burrows without a mound of soil at the entrance. They spread the soil around and pat it down with their feet and the top of their head.
- Breeding takes place once a year about mid-April and the babies are born about 28 days later.
