Brandt's Ground Squirrel

About this species

Habitat

Dry steppe and semi-desert

Range

Central Asia, including western Mongolia

Brandt's ground squirrel is a small, compact burrowing squirrel with short rounded ears, a short tail and strong digging feet. The coat is generally sandy or grey-brown above and paler below, providing camouflage on open dry ground. It belongs to a group of closely similar Asian ground squirrels, including the pallid and Alashan species. Reliable identification therefore depends on locality as well as external characters, rather than coat colour by itself. (Wikipedia, Brandt's ground squirrel account)

The species inhabits dry steppe and semi-desert in Central Asia, including parts of Mongolia. It lives on the ground and uses excavated burrows for refuge from predators and extreme temperatures. The opened species account was brief and did not provide enough evidence for a precise diet, breeding season, social system or hibernation timetable. It also named no Mongolian reserve or observation site. Those points are deliberately left unstated rather than inferred from other Spermophilus species. (Wikipedia, Brandt's ground squirrel account)

Description: Wildlife of Mongolia guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)