A small rodent belonging to the Squirrel family. One of the largest representatives of this species is the steppe ground squirrel. You can find photos and descriptions of this animal in many publications about animals, but today we also want to talk about it.
Appearance
Adult ground squirrel has a body length of 25 to 37 cm. This animal weighs up to 1.5 kg. Approximately 35% of the total body length is the tail. You can see a photo of the steppe gopher in our article.
The hind legs of these animals are somewhat longer than the front ones. The main difference between gophers and other rodents is the shape of their ears: they are short and slightly lowered. Gophers have cheek pouches behind their cheeks.
Wool is short and thick. The color is light yellow with patches of dark hair. On the sides and belly, the fur is lighter. There are two stripes on the tail - light yellow on the outside, dark yellow on the inside.
Lifestyle
This cute animal lives in the semi-deserts in the west of Kazakhstan, in the steppe zone of the Lower Volga region. In Central Asia, he prefers to settle in clayeysemi-deserts.
Steppe gopher is an animal that prefers a solitary lifestyle. Under favorable conditions, the density of rodents reaches 8 individuals per hectare. Animal colonies are sometimes several tens, and sometimes hundreds of kilometers apart. Each adult has its own feeding area, which it carefully guards.
In Russia, the following types of gophers are most common: large and small, as well as speckled. There is also a fine-toed ground squirrel.
Under natural conditions, the steppe gopher lives 3-4 years. Puberty occurs in the second year of life.
Life cycle
Steppe gopher hibernates 9 months a year. In this sense, he is the champion among all hibernating animals. This period ends at the end of February. Males wake up first, only after them females, and only then young individuals. Immediately after awakening, the mating season begins. It lasts approximately two weeks.
Females bear cubs for 30 days, little gophers are born in April-May. One brood can have from 4 to 14 cubs. The female feeds the offspring for a little more than a month, then the cubs leave the mother and begin an independent life.
Young individuals begin to dig a hole for themselves on a free barrow, the ground there is much softer than on virgin soil. First, an inclined passage is dug out, which is then clogged with earth from the inside. The vertical passage, which does not reach the surface of the earth a little, is built by the animal closer to the onset of hibernation.
The soil that the ground squirrel of the steppe zone throws from the lower layers to the surface is very important for soil formation. Many experts are sure that thanks to steppe rodents and ground squirrels, the southern regions of Russia are rich in black soil, the most fertile in the world.
With the onset of heat, when the main part of the vegetation dries up, most ground squirrels move from the uplands to the lowlands, as the grass cover stays fresh longer there. However, this is not the case in all regions. For example, in Central Asia, in hot weather, ground squirrels fall into hibernation.
The enemies of these rodents are various predators, including foxes, wolves, steppe eagles, ferrets.
Steppe gopher: food
This rodent does not have a very varied diet. He prefers plant foods. As a rule, these are bulbs and stems of plants, seeds and tubers of cereal crops, of which there are more than 30 species. Before hibernation, the steppe ground squirrel spends almost the whole day in search of food. This is necessary in order to accumulate the necessary supply of fat.
Housing
The animal lives in burrows, which it builds of several types. There are permanent, "rescue", temporary shelters. The animals live in permanent burrows in winter, in temporary burrows in summer, and the purpose of "rescue" is clear from their name.
The first two types of burrows have two passages and a nesting chamber. Their depth can reach 3 meters in depth, and the length - 7 meters. "Rescue" holes are much smaller in size. It's longunderground passage, at an angle. In addition, sometimes a gopher can settle in the burrows of a large gerbil.
Steppe gopher is an extremely cautious and secretive animal. When danger approaches, he instantly hides in one of the nearest holes. If he has moved far from his shelters, then he lies down on the ground and freezes. Due to the color of the fur, it remains almost invisible on the ground. If this technique does not work, and the danger still persists, he emits a piercing loud whistle that can disorient the enemy for a while.
Speckled ground squirrel can be considered a typical representative of the Gopher genus. This is one of the smallest animals in the family, its length does not exceed 26 centimeters.
Speckled steppe ground squirrel: brief description
He has a chiseled large head, a very mobile neck. The eyes are large and round. The paws are short, and the front ones have movable long toes. The peculiarity of the speckled gopher (however, like the animals described above) is that it has cheek pouches. They, of course, are not as big and roomy as those of a hamster. But at one time, the ground squirrel carries up to several dozen plant bulbs in its bags.
Body color is bright and variegated. Large white spots are scattered on the brown back, this is the mottling, from which the name of the species came. The spots merge on the head and neck, forming whitish ripples. The "glasses" around the eyes stand out brightly against the background of the cheeks. The tail is decorated with a light border along the very edge. Speckled ground squirrel, unlike many of its relatives,active during daytime. It settles in meadows and steppes.
The speckled ground squirrel spends most of its life in an individual burrow. The animal is extremely energetic, but shy. Moving in open areas, he becomes a "column" on his hind legs and looks around. A frightened gopher warns neighbors of danger with a loud whistle.
Contents
Catching a gopher is easy, but teaching it to live in captivity is much more difficult. It is hardly possible to hope that this rodent will turn into an accommodating and responsive pet. Gophers are not used to people. In addition, their lifestyle is not very suitable for home maintenance. Early in the morning they are active, and during the day they hide in a mink. In addition, it must be borne in mind that these animals do not have a very pleasant smell.
Quite often, keeping gophers in a cage shortens the life of animals, and sometimes leads to their death. Ground squirrels do not breed in a cage. But if you really want to get this funny animal, then you should keep it in a spacious outdoor enclosure. The only species that can be suitable for home keeping is the thin-toed ground squirrel. It is distinguished by its funny habits, which are very reminiscent of a squirrel.
There must be a shelter inside the enclosure so that your pet can safely hibernate. Cover the floor of the cage with hay or straw, which must be changed regularly. Gopher definitely needs a drinker.
This is interesting
Surprisingly, the steppe gopher is well adapted to the heat. Interesting facts reported by scientists.
- These rodents are not afraid of changes in body temperature up to ten degrees. For comparison, it should be remembered that a person feels unwell when the body temperature changes by half a degree. To avoid heat stroke, these animals are helped by the habit of sitting in a column: the head is at a distance from the hot soil. But they don't stay out in the heat for long. Coolness of holes and a rare shadow help out.
- Gopher, an inhabitant of the steppes, eats more than 16 kilograms of grass and grain over the summer.
- Small ground squirrel is the most harmful rodent. It spoils pastures, destroys valuable fodder plants. In areas of intensive agriculture, these rodents are exterminated.
- The fight against them saves the harvest, gives a large number of skins. It cannot be said that gophers can be carriers of dangerous diseases (plague, brucellosis, etc.).
