Sciuridae
 Spermophilus richardsonii
(Richardson's ground squirrel)

Image Caption:
Alerting others of the present of a potential predator (in this case, me), a Richardson's ground squirrel screams before diving head first into his burrow.  The scream is a surprisingly loud, high pitched whistle.  Koeppl, Hoffmann and Nadler (1978) recorded such calls and produced an audio spectrograph, which shows the whistle has a fairly steady frequency of about eight kilohertz and a duration of about 0.2 seconds (Fig. 5, H).  Other squirrels typically respond to the whistle by standing (Michener & Koeppl, 1985, p. 5), probably to survey for the threat.  When threatened by a bird rather than a land animal, squirrels usually alarm with a short chirp which prompts other squirrels to dash into their burrows (Michener & Koeppl, 1985, p. 5).

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Spermophilus richardsonii (Richardson's ground squirrel) Terrestrial Alarm
Works Cited:

Koeppl, J. W., Hoffmann, R. S., & Nadler, C. F.  (1978).  Pattern Analysis of Acoustical Behavior in Four Species of Ground Squirrels.  Journal of Mammalogy, 59, 677-696.

Michener, G. R. & Koeppl, J. W.  (1985).  Spermophilus richardsonii.  The American Society of Mammalogists Mammalian Species 243. (University of Lethbridge Link).
Image Location: United States, South Dakota, Brookings
Image Date: 2009MAY16
Image Species: Spermophilus richardsonii
(EXIF Information is accurate, stamped in UTC).

Web Page and Pictures By Peter Leitheiser
Updated: 2009MAY20