A new neighbor…

Our garden is home to all kinds of wildlife, big and small, from the occasional moose, the frequent deer and cottontail rabbit, to our permanent residents the squirrels, magpies, robins, birds of all kinds and more rarely, gopher snakes. 

Last Friday, however, we welcomed a new one, a Uinta ground squirrel (Urocitellus armatus), a members of the squirrel family of rodents, related to the marmot, that lives in the ground. Locally, we call them “pot-guts” after their rounded belly.

Cute and full of personality, they’re primarily herbivorous, and mostly eat grass, seeds, and leaves, along with a small amount of earthworms and discarded human food. These guys don’t work too hard, as they’re only active for a few months each year. 

These diurnal animals wake from hibernation around March-April and return to their burrows to hibernate as early as late July and mid August. When they come out of hibernation, they mate underground, each male mating with several females. Gestation lasts 23 to 26 days, and results in an average litter of five young early May. 

They can live for up to seven years in the wild and could also be your neighbors if you lived in Park City!