The long-tailed ground squirrel or Eversmann's souslik (''Urocitellus undulatus'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the squirrel family Sciuridae.AgroAtlas
/ref> It is found in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Description

The long-tailed ground squirrel has a compact, low-slung body, short legs and a long bushy tail. The body length reaches up to and the tail . The back is brown with a linear pattern of dark, small spots. The underparts are a paler ochre-brown with a reddish tinge along the side. The tail is barred in brown and black with a prominent light edge stripe and a pale tip.

Distribution and range

This species is found in submontane steppes up to , plains, meadows, the edges of pine forests and birch woods, clearings and agricultural land from Southern

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and Altai (

) to

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. There are two isolated populations in Eastern Siberia, one in southeastern

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...

and the other in the south of the

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

region. It also occurs in

and in the northwestern and northeastern parts of

Behavior

The long-tailed ground squirrel lives in colonies with a labyrinth of burrows. In light sandy soils these are up to deep with a single entrance hole surrounded by a large mound of soil up to in diameter. The underground passages extend up to . In heavier clay soils, the holes are about deep, stretch and have several entrances. The animals awake from hibernation in March and the young are born about a month later. There are usually five to eight young in a brood. Activity is concentrated in the early morning and then again in the afternoon and evening, the animals retiring to their burrows in the middle of the day. The diet consists of green vegetation, seeds, insects, bulbs and roots. Before hibernation begins in October, up to of vegetation and grain are stored in the burrows.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1763717, from2=Q21730559 Urocitellus Rodents of China Fauna of Kazakhstan Mammals of Mongolia Mammals of Russia Mammals described in 1778 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot