The golden-mantled ground squirrel has been chosen from the rather large group of southwestern ground squirrels because it is most typically a mountain dwelling species. As such it does not have the advantages of a long summer season like its lowland relatives. This results in two definite periods each year. One is feverish activity during summer, a time of breeding, rearing the young, storing food, and laying on fat for the cold months ahead. The other in winter is the exact opposite—a long interval of hibernation when, buried deep under the snow in a snug burrow, the squirrels sleep away the winter.
Though hampered by the short summers of higher elevations, the golden-mantled ground squirrels manage to lengthen the season slightly by a very simple expedient. Instinct prompts them to dig their burrows on a southern exposure, often under the base of a log or in a rock slide. Here the snow melts away first and they often have a bare spot of ground in front of the burrow several weeks in advance of the season. The squirrels emerge from their long sleep weak and emaciated, and their first days above ground are spent soaking up the warm sunshine and waking up, so to speak. During this period they live on stores laid away the previous summer, and by the time the snow has melted they are fully active and ready for mating.
golden-mantled ground squirrel
As with the ground squirrels of lower areas, the summer diet consists largely of whatever starts to grow first. During late spring, grass, buds, young leaves, and flowers are eaten. Later, seeds of the annuals are gathered, berries are taken whenever possible, and insects often form a considerable part of the diet. As fall comes on, acorns, pine nuts, and a great number of smaller seeds and fruits become available. At this time the ground squirrels must not only lay on enough fat to maintain themselves through hibernation, but must also store away enough food to tide them over between the time of their emergence and the appearance of new growth. Evidently this is an adaptation forced upon them by the exceptionally long winter season. Most rodents which lay on coats of fat preparatory to hibernation depend almost entirely on it to carry them through. With a hibernating period of from 5 to 7 months, however, it is not difficult to realize the problems this ground squirrel must face.
Though the golden-mantled ground squirrel resembles the chipmunks in appearance, its temperament is quite different. Chipmunks are bright, nervous little sprites, always pursuing their activities with explosive energy. The ground squirrels move more sedately, as though they had planned every move and there was no hurry. They love to lie in the sun in some exposed place and watch the rest of the world go by. In habitat, too, the species differ materially. Chipmunks choose thick undergrowth where they can go about their business unobserved. Ground squirrels prefer more exposed locations where they take their chances in the open, but with one eye always cocked aloft as insurance against attack by hawk or eagle. Creatures of the earth, they are always reluctant to climb. Rarely do they ascend more than a few feet, and then only to reach some especially toothsome delicacy that their keen noses have detected in a low shrub or small tree.
With its wide distribution, visitors to the southwestern mountains can hardly fail to notice this golden-headed member of the ground squirrel family. It is easily tamed; too easily in fact for, like the chipmunk, it can quickly wear out its welcome. In many of the National Parks and Monuments they compete with chipmunks for the crumbs around camp sites and picnic tables. Visitors find their cunning way irresistible and feed them despite warnings to the contrary. Because they do tame so easily there is always danger that some well-meaning person will attempt to pick them up. This can lead to unpleasant results. Their long sharp incisors can inflict a serious wound.
One of the most fascinating places to observe both chipmunks and these ground squirrels is from the windows of the long tunnel leading northward out of Zion National Park. On the talus slopes beneath the windows a great number of these rodents take up summer quarters, depending for food on the largesse distributed by visitors as they eat their picnic lunches on the broad ledges of the windows. Their constant movements as they run among the rocks seeking stray crumbs result in many a collision and often an angry dispute as well. This proves a dangerous game, as rocks sometimes will be loosened by their movements and roll down the steep incline. I recall seeing a ground squirrel crushed by one of these miniature rock slides in 1946.
White-tailed prairie dog
Cynomys gunnisoni (Greek: kun, a dog and mys, mouse ... for Captain Gunnison whose expedition took the type)
