Harris's antelope squirrel

Harris's antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus harrisii) is a small ground-dwelling squirrel of the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It occurs in Arizona and New Mexico and in the Mexican state of Sonora, and is named for Edward Harris. The animal has grey fur with a white stripe along each side and a pale ring around each eye, with browner highlights on the flanks and legs, and an adult weighs roughly 110 to 140 grams. It is active during the day and copes with desert heat by carrying its tail over its back as a sunshade, by lying spread out against shaded ground in a behaviour called heat dumping, and by salivating, since it does not sweat. Its diet is wide-ranging, covering cactus fruit and seeds, mesquite beans, insects, small rodents and carrion. Females usually raise one litter a year, averaging about six and a half pups after a gestation of about thirty days. Predators include bobcats, coyotes and snakes. The species is not endangered, although development is shrinking the area it can use.