Wyoming ground squirrel

The Wyoming ground squirrel (Urocitellus elegans) is a moderately sized ground squirrel of the family Sciuridae, endemic to the mountain west of the United States. Adults measure about 25 to 31 centimetres, with light drab upperparts flecked pink, clay or cinnamon, big ears and a relatively long tail edged in buff or white. It lives in three separate populations, each a different subspecies, from southwestern Montana and Idaho through Wyoming and Colorado to the Great Basin of Nevada, in sagebrush plains, grasslands and montane meadows. It lives in colonies of single occupant dens, hibernates for much of the year and is eaten by foxes, coyotes, badgers, weasels, rattlesnakes and hawks. Plague outbreaks, shooting and poisoning reduce its numbers.