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Project Noah Nature School
Urocitellus beldingi
These ground squirrels stand up and watch for danger, warning the rest of the family with whistles. Adult females and juveniles live in extended family groups, while adult males live alone in the edge of the meadows. In late summer only the juveniles are still active while the adults are already hibernating.
Tuolumne Meadows, next to Soda Springs. Yosemite NP, CA. In California, it often is found at 6,500 to 11,800 feet (2,000–3,600 m) in meadows between Lake Tahoe and Kings Canyon.
Spotted on Sep 18, 2014
Submitted on Dec 25, 2014
3 Comments
Haha, Joshua! I can imagine. This one I saw was acting very well as sentinel, moving from left to right very upright :-)
Very nice. I saw one one of those while fishing in Bishop up near the Sierras. It was hilarious to watch it come out of its burrow because it had no idea we were all around it and it was so shocked!
Lovely series Marta and video! I can't resist squirrels :-)