Monday, December 15, 2008

A rare land mammal

A rare sight on E, W & W today - a land mammal! I don't post these that often as we simply don't have any native ones so the only time I see any is whilst on vacation. These are California ground squirrels - Spermophilus beecheyi.


ground squirrel - Spermophilus beecheyi

The squirrel above was one of a number living in a rock pile in Monterrey at a site where people go to see rather different mammals (of which more later). The animals below were further south and as you can see living in different quarters. I assumed at the time they were a different species.

doggs

The Monterrey animals were much more chilled out with humans than the sentries above, presumably due to prolongued overexposure thereto? This gave me a great chance to get a good look at these little chaps.

ground squirrel2
They were slightly chubbier than other squirrels and very busy little creatures ferretting around picking up leaves and seeds. All in all it was nice to see some land mammals for once in a while.

1 comment:

Patrick B. said...

I saw these guys all over Monterey too. I think I saw them in Pacific Grove, just south of Monterey.