Poliocitellus franklin (Sabine, 1822)
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6840226 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6818988 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/064D0660-FFAF-ED52-FF64-FBD6F862F53A |
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treatment provided by |
Diego |
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scientific name |
Poliocitellus franklin |
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217. View On
Franklin’s Ground Squirrel
French: Spermophile de Franklin / German: Franklin-Ziesel / Spanish: Ardilla terrestre de Franklin
Taxonomy. Arctomys franklinii Sabine, 1822 ,
type locality given. Restricted by E.
A. Preble in 1908 to Carlton House, Saskatchewan, Canada.
This species is monotypic.
Distribution. N Great Plains in SC Canada and NC USA.
Descriptive notes. Head-body mean 232-4 mm (males) and 237-9 mm (females), tail mean 127-7 mm (males) and 128-1 mm (females); weight mean 461-2 g (males) and 424-9 g (females). Franklin's Ground Squirrel is medium-sized and has grizzled gray dorsal pelage, with wash of yellow on haunches extending to sides and venter. Shoulders have suffusion of rust or reddish. Eye ring is buff to yellowish. Venter is buffto yellow. Tail is long, cylindrical, and bushy, with dark grizzled appearance and rust core and black lines along periphery and frosting of white. Chromosomal complement is 2n = 42 and FN = 66.
Habitat. Thick dense grasslands in the midto tall-grass prairies of the eastern Great Plains of North America.
Food and Feeding. Franklin's Ground Squirrel is more omnivorous than most ground squirrels, feeding heavily on plant material but also known to focus heavily on seasonally available animal matter such as insects, bird eggs (especially those of ducks and geese) and nestlings, and frogs. In spring, shoots, roots, and greening grasses are the focus of the diet, transitioning to flowers,fruits, and seeds before summer. It is notorious in waterfowl breeding areas for eating eggs and sometimes nestlings. It might store some food in underground chambers.
Breeding. Franklin's Ground Squirrel inhabits burrows, and maternity burrows are often more convoluted and contain a nest chamber in which young are born. Males emerge before females in spring. Individuals mate soon after female emergence. Litters average four young (range 2-6) and emerge in early summer. Females nurse throughout summer, and scrotal males remain in the population until mid-July.
Activity patterns. Franklin's Ground Squirrel is diurnal and most active in midday; it reduces and spreads activity over the day when heatis excessive. Burrows often have multiple openings and are convoluted and complex, with chambers for food storage, defecation, and nesting. Adults begin to hibernate as early as July, and young remain aboveground until as late as October. Males emerge 1-2 weeks before females and establish rigid dominance hierarchies. Mating can occur aboveground but often takes place in burrows, with a male and female sometimes nesting together for a night.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Franklin's Ground Squirrel can live at very low densities (1-2-2-5 ind/ha) and is solitary and intolerant of conspecifics— among the least social of all ground squirrels. Annual home ranges average 24-6 ha for males and 8-7 ha for females. Translocated individuals demonstrate strong homing instinct, up to 1550 m. Gestation is 28 days. Litters average 7-9 young up to perhaps 9-4 young. Juvenile Franklin's Ground Squirrels disperse at 9-11 weeks of age. While dispersing, males and females can travel more than 1 km (up to 3-6 km for one male) across open fields, but they typically avoid crossing major roadways; males usually disperse farther than females. Communication by scent marking seems to be important among Franklins Ground Squirrels; they scent-mark with glands on torsos and cheeks; juveniles recognize kin. High-pitched whistles are occasionally given when alarmed.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Population trend of Franklin’s Ground Squirrel is decreasing. It is of conservation concern in six of 14 USA and Canadian states and provinces; it is considered imperiled in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ontario, and Wisconsin and rare in Iowa; healthier populations exist in south-central Canadian provinces. Major conservation challenges may be degradation of grasslands and fragmentation of habitats due to conversion of forests and grasslands to agriculture and human settlement. Low densities generally do not pose a problem to agriculture, yet it is still removed orkilled. As a known predator of duck and goose eggs, it has been removed from nesting areas. It does not generally thrive in human-modified,
short-grass landscapes (e.g. pastures, roadsides, mowed parks, and lawns). It appears to avoid crossing large gaps of crops and perceives these as risky environments. Attempts to reintroduce Franklin's Ground Squirrels have not met with noteworthy success.
Bibliography. Conover et al. (2005), Duggan et al. (2012), Hare (2004), Huebschman (2003), Jannett et al. (2007), Jardine et al. (2006), Johnson & Choromanski-Norris (1992), Lewis & Rongstad (1992), Martin & Heske (2005), Martin et al. (2003), Ostroff & Finck (2003), Pergams et al. (2008), Preble (1908), Thorington et al. (2012), Van Vuren & Ordenana (2012), Wiewel et al. (2007).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
