THE GOLDEN MANTLED
GROUND SQUIRREL
by Ralph R. Huestis

Special Number - 1951

DOMESTICATION

A certain number are captured and kept successfully as pets, often living for several years according to the testimony of Park visitors who have kept them. This is presumably due to their being able to thrive on the diet usual for the commoner domestic pets and to stand overfeeding. They hibernate in captivity even in the relatively warm Willamette Valley. During the winter of 1937-38 Professor Milne, of Oregon State College, kept two female squirrels in a nest box in his yard at Corvallis. Both squirrels hibernated, "rolled in a ball" with their heads between their fore limbs. They were cold to the touch and promptly resumed the hibernating posture if forcibly unrolled. They could be gradually aroused if put out in the sun and would attempt to bite if they were touched during this interval. During the warmth of the day they would remain active but would resume hibernation again that night and remain asleep unless again disturbed. Quite contrary to what is usually assumed, the smaller, thinner squirrel remained in hibernation two or three weeks after her bigger sister had emerged. Neither squirrel appeared to have lost weight during the hibernating period. Squirrels emerging from winter quarters at Crater Lake in 1937 and 1938 were all in good condition also.

Three burrows were dug out in August 1937 to study the plan of construction. Two were empty (abandoned?) and one, herewith reproduced, contained a squirrel. He hung around awhile during the excavating process and regarded the operation with some concern.

The burrow which has been reproduced was the shortest and simplest of the three, being rather less than thirty feet in length. The longest tunnel was more than a hundred feet in total length, tortuous and containing cross connections. The third burrow was forty feet in length. Tunnels were usually about six inches below the surface, the greatest depth being reached in a cul-de-sac ten inches deep, either a nest chamber or sink. No tunnel contained nesting material. Diameters varied from two to four inches. Turn-arounds and nesting sites or sinks were from five to seven inches in diameter. All tunnels contained more than one open entrance, with one or more blocked with earth.

Tunnels went under rocks and the roots of bushes when these were encountered but entrances were not necessarily hidden. In general one might say that the tunnels were like the squirrel, rather simple and direct.

LITERATURE

Bailey, Vernon. 1936. Mammals and Life Zones of Oregon. North American Fauna No. 55. U.S.D.A. Bureau of Biological Survey.

Gordon, K. 1943. The Natural History and Behavior of the Western Chipmunk and Mantled Ground Squirrel, Oregon State Monograph Studies in Zoology No. 5.

Grinnell, J. and T. I. Storer. 1924. Animal Life in the Yosemite, California University Museum Vertebrate Zoology Contribution, California University Publications of Zoology.