Thirteen-lined ground squirrel
Ictidomys tridecemlineatus
— Where the name comes from
Ictidomys is “weasel-mouse”, from the Greek iktís, the weasel, for the long low body. Tridecemlineatus counts them: thirteen alternating stripes, pale and dark, the dark ones dotted with white. It is one of the few scientific names that can be verified by looking at the animal and counting.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Rodents
- Habitat
- Short-grass prairie, pasture, roadsides, mown lawns
- Range
- The North American Great Plains, from southern Canada to Texas
- Size
- 17–31 cm including tail, 110–270 g
- Diet
- Seeds, grasses, insects, occasionally small vertebrates
- Lifespan
- 5 years in the wild
— Characteristics
- 01
In hibernation its body temperature falls almost to zero.
- 02
The heart, which in summer beats 350 times a minute, comes down to three.
- 03
It eats meat too: grasshoppers, eggs, nestlings, carrion.
— What sets it apart
Medicine studies it to learn how not to die of cold. In hibernation its brain stays a few degrees above zero for months and starts working again without damage, whereas in a non-hibernating mammal the same treatment would destroy the synapses. Research on the proteins that allow it has been used to extend the storage times of transplant organs, which today are measured in hours and not days.
