Daurian ground squirrel

The Daurian ground squirrel (Spermophilus dauricus) is a species of ground squirrel in the family Sciuridae with a wide range in north-eastern China that extends into Mongolia and the Transbaikalia region of Russia. Two subspecies are recognised in China, one in Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Henan and Shandong and the other in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, eastern Inner Mongolia and Shanxi. It is a small ground squirrel, 165 to 270 millimetres long, weighing 165 to 265 grams, with a short tail about a fifth of its body length that is tipped with yellow and has a dark band just before the tip. The body is buff or grayish-russet without spots and a pale ring runs around the eye to the ear. It lives on open plains and on the fringes of deserts, such as the northern edge of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, in colonies with simple burrows that usually have two entrances. The young are born in spring in a grass-lined nest, in litters of two to nine, and the diet is the green parts of plants, seeds and grain.