African striped ground squirrel
species of mammal
The striped ground squirrel (Euxerus erythropus) is a species of squirrel native to Africa. It was first described by Geoffroy in 1803, but the binomial authority is sometimes incorrectly cited as "Desmarest, 1817". There are six subspecies. It is a moderately large ground squirrel with sandy-brown or dark-brown fur with a white lateral stripe and whitish underparts. Adults live alone or in pairs in a simple burrow with a central nest, foraging, mostly on the ground, for seeds, nuts and roots, and caching excess food under stones. This is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Description
Striped ground squirrels are moderately large ground squirrels, ranging from 22 to 29 centimetres (8.7 to 11.4 in) in length, with a tail that, at 19 to 26 centimetres (7.5 to 10.2 in), is nearly as long as the body. Adults weigh between 0.5 and 1 kilogram (1.1 and 2.2 lb). They have a coat of short, bristly fur, and are pale sandy to dark brown across most of the body, with whitish, nearly hairless, underparts. A narrow stripe of pure white fur runs down the flanks from the shoulders to the hips.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “African striped ground squirrel” is species of mammal. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through African, striped and ground, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q125866100. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1803 and 1817.
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This entry incorporates text from “African striped ground squirrel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.