GOLDEN-MANTLED GROUND SQUIRREL (Callospermophilus lateralis lateralis)
Larger than a chipmunk, chestnut-gray on head and back. Distinguished from chipmunks by having black and white strips on its sides (none down the middle of the back) and by having a plain face with no stripping. Not as nervous and quick as the chipmunk. Total length 11 inches. Formerly called Say’s ground squirrel in this locality.
These trusting little fellows are the most commonly seen, photographed, and fed animals in the Park, (including the rangers). Dozens of these beautifully striped squirrels compete with chipmunks throughout the area for visitor “hand-outs” of peanuts. If left to themselves (those that haven’t forgotten how) they feed largely on plant material and seeds. There is a definite reason for this voracious engorging of food during the summer, which is enjoyed by the marmots and richardson ground squirrels as well. These animals are exemplary of the “true” hibernators of the animal kingdom. They go into burrows below frost line for a long winter period, curling up into tight little balls, and drop off into a death-like, torpid sleep from which they are aroused with some difficulty. Their temperature may drop from around ninety degrees F. to only forty; their heartbeat may reduce from approximately two hundred beats per minute to four or five; their oxygen consumption is less than ten per cent of the amount used in active condition. They utilize part of their stored-up summer fat for the little energy needed to keep alive. When the warm days of spring arrive, they dig their way out of the ground and search again for food and the customary “handouts.”