I grew up calling these “gophers,” but they are, apparently, Richardson’s ground squirrels, about which there are many interesting facts.
Odd that I don’t feel about them the way I feel about tree squirrels: maybe because I’m not affected by their depredations in the same way.
Maybe because I think of them as gophers. A squirrel by any other name is more tolerable.
Oak Hammock Marsh is a conservation area near Selkirk MB.
When I moved out west, I was told they were “prairie dogs”…
Not sure if that is a cut above or below “gopher” or “ground squirrel”.
Jim R – Nor I, but it’s interesting that no one other than a biologist sees that critter and thinks “squirrel.”
Are you implying some biologists are squirrely?
Barry – I was not so implying, but now that you mention it . . . . I wonder how we came to attribute some animal names to human characteristics or behaviours: squirrelly, goosey, chicken, wolf-ish, and so on.