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Barbary Ground Squirrel
Atlantoxerus getulus
The Barbary ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is monotypic within the genus Atlantoxerus. It is endemic to the Atlas mountains in Morocco and some parts in Algeria, and has been introduced into the Canary Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate grassland and rocky areas where it lives colonially in burrows. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
From the article Barbary ground squirrel on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The Barbary ground squirrel is a small species growing to a length of between 160 and 220 millimetres (6.3 and 8.7 in) with a bushy tail of a similar length. It weighs up to 350 grams (12 oz) and has short wiry hair. The general colour is greyish-brown or reddish-brown and there is a white stripe running along each side, and sometimes another along the spine. The belly is paler grey and the tail is longitudinally barred in black and grey.
Range & habitat
The Barbary ground squirrel is found on the Barbary Coast of Western Sahara, Morocco and Algeria on the seaward side of the Atlas Mountains and was introduced into the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands in 1965. It is one of only two species of squirrel to inhabit Africa north of the Sahara, the other being a small population of striped ground squirrel in southern Morocco. Its habitat is arid rocky ground and it is found in mountainous regions up to an altitude of about 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
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This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 46241.