- African ground squirrel
Taxobox
name = African ground squirrels
fossil_range = EarlyPliocene to Recent
image_width = 250px
image_caption =Cape Ground Squirrel ("Xerus inauris")
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis =Mammal ia
ordo =Rodent ia
familia =Sciuridae
subfamilia =Xerinae
tribus =Xerini
genus = "Xerus"
genus_authority = Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833
subdivision_ranks =Species
subdivision = "Xerus erythropus"
"Xerus inauris"
"Xerus princeps "
"Xerus rutilus"African ground squirrels (
genus "Xerus") form a taxon ofsquirrel s under thesubfamily Xerinae . They are only found inAfrica .There are four species of African ground squirrels divided into three subgenera:
*Genus "Xerus"
**Subgenus "Euxerus "
***Striped Ground Squirrel , "Xerus erythropus" (southwestern Morocco, southern Mauritania and Senegal)
**Subgenus "Geosciurus "
***Cape Ground Squirrel , "Xerus inauris" (also: South African Ground Squirrel) (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa)
***Damara Ground Squirrel, "Xerus princeps" (southwestern Angola, Namibia)
**Subgenus "Xerus"
***Unstriped Ground Squirrel , "Xerus rutilus" (northeastern Sudan to northeastern Tanzania)The squirrels live in open woodlands, grasslands, or rocky country. They are diurnal and terrestrial, living in burrows. Their diet is roots, seeds, fruits, pods, grains, insects, small vertebrates and bird eggs. They live in colonies similar to North American prairie dogs, and have similar behavior. Kept as pets, they run free as house cats do, otherwise farmers consider them pests. Also known as a
skeet .References
*Nowak, Ronald M. 1991. pp. 577-8 "Walker's Mammals of the World" Fifth Edition, vol. I. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
*Thorington, R. W. Jr. and R. S. Hoffman. 2005. Family Sciuridae. Pp. 754-818 "in" Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
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