African ground squirrel

African ground squirrels (genus Xerus) form a taxon of squirrels under the subfamily Xerinae. They are only found in Africa. There is another African ground squirrel of the genus Atlantoxerus, the Atlantoxerus getulus present in southwestern Morocco and northern Western Sahara. It is invasive in the Canary Islands since an introduction in 1971.

There are four species of African ground squirrels divided into three subgenera:

• Genus Xerus
  • Subgenus Euxerus
    • Striped Ground Squirrel, Xerus erythropus (southwestern Morocco, southern Mauritania and Senegal)
  • Subgenus Geosciurus
    • Cape Ground Squirrel, Xerus inauris (also: South African Ground Squirrel) (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa)
    • Damara Ground Squirrel, Xerus princeps (southwestern Angola, Namibia)
  • Subgenus Xerus
    • Unstriped Ground Squirrel, Xerus rutilus (northeastern Sudan to northeastern Tanzania)

The squirrels live in open woodlands, grasslands, or rocky country. They are diurnal and terrestrial, living in burrows. Their diet is roots, seeds, fruits, pods, grains, insects, small vertebrates and bird eggs. They live in colonies similar to North American prairie dogs, and have similar behavior. Kept as pets, they run free as house cats do, otherwise farmers consider them pests.

References

• Nowak, Ronald M. 1991. pp. 577–8 Walker's Mammals of the World Fifth Edition, vol. I. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Thorington, R. W. Jr. and R. S. Hoffman. 2005. Family Sciuridae. pp. 754–818 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.