Rock squirrel

The rock squirrel, Otospermophilus variegatus, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae native to Mexico and the southwestern United States, including southern Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and the Oklahoma panhandle. It is one of the largest members of its family, with adults up to 53 centimetres long, a speckled grayish brown coat, a pale ring around each eye and a long bushy tail edged in white. It lives on rocky mountains, canyon walls, cliffs and steep rocky hills, digging complex burrows under rocks, and in colonies with several females and one dominant male. It is mostly a herbivore, eating leaves, stems, seeds, acorns, pine nuts and cacti, with some invertebrates, and it stores food in large cheek pouches. Snakes, eagles and many mammals prey on it, and people both eat and kill it as a pest.