The Ground Squirrels of Colorado
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CIRCULAR 44 NoVEMBER, 1924 THE GROUND SQUIRRELS OF COLORADO BY w. L. BURNETT OFFICE OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE FORT COLLINS, COLORADO OFFICIAL STAFF C. P. GILLETTE. ............. ------------------------------·------·-·---------------------------------------State Entomologist GEORGE M. LIST ........................ __________________ ------------···············-----·-··-·--···---·······--···--·-··Chief Deputy R. G. RICHMOND ................................. __________ Deputy in Charge Apiary Inspection WILLIAM L. BuRNETT ..................................... Deputy in Charge Rodent Control J. H. NEWTON ................................. Deputy in Charge Alfalfa Weevil Control W. L. MAY • ............................................................... Deputy in Charge Weed Control WM. P. YETTER, JR ................................................................................................................ Deputy GEORGE ::;. LANGFORD ................................................................... ------··········--··········--············Deputy E. RoBERTS ········································--·········-·······················································-······························Clerk • Deceased THE GROUND SQUIRRELS OF COLORADO BY W. L. BuRNETT Ground squirrels belong to the rodent family Sciuridae. Other members of this family are tree squirrels, chipmunks, prairie dogs and woodchucks. Colorado ground squirrels are divided into four genera, Citellus, with five members; Callospermophilus, two; Ammospermophilus, one, and Otospermophilus, one. On account of the economic importance of this group of mammals to the State, it is necessary that we have as full a knowledge of the habits of its members as possible, for without this knowledge, we are unable to suggest the best methods for its control or to. distinguish the differences between the injurious and the beneficial ones. The object of this circular is to acquaint the general public with the different species of ground squirrels that occur in the State, that they may have a better understanding of the problems they have to contend with, from time to time, in ground~squirrel control. Ground squirrels feed extensively on injurious weed seeds and, som.e forms, on insects. During the past few years, from all parts of the country, the cry has gone up to exterminate this, and exterminate that, from predacious mammals to certain birds and rodents. The word '' exter:tninate'' is being used in a reckless and malicious· manner. It is true that it may become necessary to reduce to a minimum certain forms of animal life for crop and livestock protection, but we should stop far short of extermination, and use control measures only when necessary. Outside of the Wyoming ground squirrel, the· problem of squirrel injury and control is purely a local one. The other species do very little damage to crops, with the exception of the striped ground squirrel in eastern Colorado, which destroys ·newly planted corn,. but, in all sections of the State, its food consists largely of weed seeds, grasshoppers and insect pests. In 1920 we issued Circular No. 30 as Part 1, ''A Contribution to the Lif.e History of the Wyoming Ground Squirrel in Colorado.'' In place of issuing Part 2, we have deemed it advisable to publish what additional information we have on this squirrel in this circular, and in corporate several paragraphs from Circular 30. We have also added three or four paragraphs on the striped ground squirrel from Circular No. 14, issued from this office in October, 1914. In 1910 Warren published his "Mammals of Colorado. n In 1911 the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Sur vey, published N. A. Fauna No. 33, ''A Biological Survey of Colo rado," by Oary. In the preparation of this circular, both these pub lications have been freely consulted and when the name of either Warren or Cary is used in the text, it refers to these respective publi:. cations. 4 GRouND SQuiRRELs oF CoLORADO ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes· to offer the following acknowledgments : To Dr. C. P. Gillette, State Entomologist, under whose directions and guidance he has worked; to Mr. C. L. Corkins, former Deputy State Entomologist, and Mr. S. C. McCampbell a vocational student, he is especially indebted for assistance in field work. \VYOMING GROUND SQUIRREL C'itellus elegans (Kennicott) DESCRIPTION-From Warren's "Mammals of Colorado." "(From a speci men taken in Coyote Basin, Routt County, July, 2d.) Upper parts brown, with indistinct mottled or spotted appearance caused by the tip of the hairs being black; in some lights the animal seems to be transversely crossed by narrow, irregular, wavy, black lines; top of head like back, but without the spotted appearance; sides, flanks, and upper surface of feet pale fulvous; underparts (except chin) a somewhat paler shade of fulvous; chin whitish; light, whitish-buff ring around eye; tail above mixed brown and black, tip black edged with whitish; below brown or fulvous, about like sides, with black tip. "Measurements-Total length 10.8; tail vert., 3.0; hind foot, 1.75." The Wyoming ground squirrel is one of the best-known mammals in the sections of the State where it occurs. There is always bustle and activity around its home, as the few short months in summer that it is out of hibernation is none too long for the work to be done in the rearrangement of burrows, breeding and rearing of the young, and the accumulation of fat on its body, that is necessary to keep it alive throughout the long winter months of inactivity. The Wyoming ground squirrel may be distinguished from other ground squirrels of the State by its large size, and short tail. It ~s the largest member of the Citellus group found in the State, and .Is only exceeded in size by the Rock Squirrel, which has a long tail, and does not belong to the Citellus group. It was first described by Kennicott, under the name of Spermophilus elegans, in the Proceed ings of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia in 1863, from a specimen collected by C. D. Drexler, at Fort Bridges, Uinta County, Wyoming. Its distribution is restricted to Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. DISTRIBUTION IN Cm.JORADO--Upper Sonoran, Transition and Canadian Zonest and occurs in all or portions of Weld, Larimer, Jack son, Routt, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Garfield, Grand, Summit, Clear Creek, Eagle, Pitkin, Park and Lake counties. East of the Continental Divide the Wyoming ground squirrel reaches the height of its abundance in the Transition Zone ; west of the.Divide it is more common in the Upper Sonoran. East of. the Divide it only occurs in the upper Sonoran Zone in northern Larimer and northwestern Weld counties. t For zone map of ColQrado see N. A. Fauna No. 33. CIRCULAR 44 STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 5 In 1893, Bailey, in writing of Richardson's spermophile, gives the distribution of elegans as follows : "Its southern subspecies, the Wyoming spermophile (Sphermophilus r. elegans), extends over the sage plains of Wyoming from Cheyenne and Laramie mountain westward to Idaho. It is also found in northern Utah and at Fish Creek in the extreme northern part of Colorado."* At the time Bailey wrote this- bulletin, the generic name for the ground squirrel was Spermophilus, and elegans was classed as a sub Rpecies of richardsoni. As very little mammalogical work had been done in Qolorado prior to 1893, the Fish Creek record as given by Bailey was not a true status of its- distribution in the State. We have authentic accounts of its not being uncommon in North Park and Western Routt (now Moffat) County in 1883. The writer first met with this squirrel in 1900 on Panhandle Creek near Black Mountain, and on Lone Pine Creek near Manhattan, I1arimer County, Colorado. It seems to have been a native of Wyo ming and no doubt entered Colorado on the north from that state. We are not familiar with the distribution of this squirrel in Utah, but in Colorado, from our observations, it is not common west of Range 100 West. In the years we have had this squirrel under observation, its tendency has been to migrate southward, rather rapidly in the past few years. During this time the eastward movement has been slight. We attribute this lack of eastward movement to environmental con ditions and altitude, with altitude the dominating factor. A wide variation in altitude causes a corresponding variation in temperature and, if we follow Merriam's theory and see in temperature the chief factor in outlining the life zones of plants and animals, we find that 0. elegans adheres very closely to the 6000 feet elevation which is sup posed to be the lowest which it inhabits in the different zones where found. It is- true that in the Upper Sonoran Zone, in a few localities, it occurs at an elevation considerably lower than 6000 feet, £or example, at Rang.eley in Rio Blanca County and Carr in Weld County. However, to the best of our knowledge it occurs only sparingly at these two points. In Larimer County, at least, there are no natural barriers to pre vent the spread eastward to the fertile valley of the Poudre. The line of demarcation is well illustrated in this county in what is known as the Upper Livermore Valley. Squirrels have been common in this locality for twenty yearS' or more. In traveling west from Fort Collins to this section, one could always tell where to expect to run into squirrel territory. Some four or five years ago 0. elegans invaded the plains regions of northeastern Larimer and northwestern Weld Counties. This in vasion of the plains also seemingly came from Wyoming and was- not the result of an eastward migration from the older infested region to the westward. * (Page 60, Bulletin No. 4, U. S. D. A., Division' of Ornithology and Mammalogy). 6 GROUND SQUIRRELS oF CoLORADO BREEDING-Forty-four gravid females examined during the breed ing season, in three different years, gave an average of 6.6· young in a litter. Our opinion is that, if the breeding data covered a period of ten years, the average would be considerably higher. One season the number of embryos varied from six to eleven ; one season they varied from six to ten, and one season from one to six, and all three seasons data were from the same locality.