Sierra Madre ground squirrel

The Sierra Madre ground squirrel (Callospermophilus madrensis) is a small rodent of the squirrel family, endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidental of northern Mexico, in extreme western Sonora, southwestern Chihuahua and northwestern Durango. It was described by Merriam in 1901 from a specimen collected near Guadalupe y Calvo in Chihuahua. The animal is easily recognised by two long white stripes and two faint black stripes along each side of the spine and a tan-to-brown mantle across the back of the head; the head and body average about 169 mm and it weighs about 151 g. It lives in conifer forests of fir, pine and juniper, sometimes with aspen, above the pinyon pine belt at about 3000 to 3750 m. It is diurnal, active above ground in late spring and summer, solitary and found at low densities, feeding on shrub and herb tissues and, in late summer and autumn, on conifer and oak seeds. The IUCN Red List rates it Near Threatened, citing habitat loss from deforestation.