White-tailed antelope squirrel

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White-tailed antelope squirrel
Ammospermophilus leucurus
White-tailed antelope squirrel in Southern Utah
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Ammospermophilus
Species: A. leucurus
Binomial name
Ammospermophilus leucurus
(Merriam, 1889)
Distribution map of the white-tailed antelope squirrel—Ammospermophilus leucurus

The white-tailed antelope squirrel, Ammospermophilus leucurus, is a diurnal species of ground squirrel found in arid regions of the southwestern United States and the Baja California Peninsula of northwestern Mexico.

This species of squirrel has an average home range of 14.9 acres (60,000 m2), and utilizes approximately 4 acres (16,000 m2) in its daily activities.[2]

Ammospermophilus leucurus is omnivorous, feeding primarily on foliage (10%-60% of its diet), seeds (20%-50%), arthropods, and to a lesser extent, vertebrates (mainly lizards and rodents; predatory behavior by ground squirrels has been noted[3][4][5][6]).[7]

White-tailed antelope squirrel in Joshua Tree National Park, California.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Linzey, A. V., Timm, R., Álvarez-Castañeda, S. T., Castro-Arellano, I. & Lacher, T. (2008). Ammospermophilus leucurus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  2. ↑ Bradley, W.G. and J.E. Deacon (1965). "The biotic communities of southern Nevada," Univ. Nevada, Desert Research Institute Preprint, 9: 1-74 plus indices.
  3. ↑ Green, M. M. (1925). Notes on some mammals of Montmorency County, Michigan. J. Mamm., 6: 173-178.
  4. ↑ Bailey, B. (1923). Meat-eating propensities of some rodents of Minnesota. J. Mamm., 4: 129.
  5. ↑ Johnson, A. M. (1922). An observation of the carnivorous propensities of the gray gopher. J. Mamm., 3: 187.
  6. ↑ Bridgwater, D. D., and Penny, D.F. (1966). Predation by Citellus tridecemlineatus on other vertebrates. J. Mamm., 47: 345-346.
  7. ↑ Bradley W. G. (1968). Food habits of the antelope ground squirrel in southern Nevada. Journal Of Mammalogy, 49:14–21

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