The whole family lives around a big truck tire across the street from me in San Felipe. I'm just curious about what specific species it might be.
bajajudy - 9-4-2006 at 04:47 PM
The local name is Juancitoroundtuit - 9-4-2006 at 04:50 PM
Big John surviorsroundtuit - 9-4-2006 at 04:54 PM
Maybe back to important issues since I am not an ostrichtigerdog - 9-4-2006 at 04:59 PM
Thank you, bajajudy.tigerdog - 9-4-2006 at 05:05 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by roundtuit
Maybe back to important issues since I am not an ostrich
Huh?
roundtuit - 9-4-2006 at 05:20 PM
Duh???
Anyone know anything about the road south of Loreto? They were making there way north from San Juanico. They are in the area of La Purisima and are
stranded between washouts. They called out by Sat Phone but the message was sketchy at best. The phone has been out ever since (last night). They are
in capable 4x4s (waiting for discriptions) so It must be bad. They were supplied for a couple of days so it is not urgent just anxious to findout
thier status. Are the phones up in Loreto, maybe they made it in and cant call out. I will post a little more when I hear something.tigerdog - 9-4-2006 at 05:48 PM
Have I committed a sin by posting those photos in the photo gallery today? If so, I sincerely apologize.
roundtuit, I sincerely hope that whoever you are anxious for is OK and that you find them soon.
Tigerdog,
Paulina - 9-5-2006 at 09:05 PM
I believe it is a Western Chipmunk.
Check out www.wildlifesearch.com. There you can click on Chipmunk and find out all kinds of info with photos. You did nothing wrong by posting your
question, some are just a bit jumpy at the moment which hopefully won't turn off newcomers such as yourself.
White tailed antelope ground squirrel is my guess.
Ardilla berrendo in Spanish. I've heard one much like it called either jergo or gergo but can find nothing on the net under either spelling.
Just a guess, there are a bunch of very similars.tigerdog - 9-9-2006 at 01:32 PM
Thanks, everyone.
Paulina, I went to the website you provided and what a treasure (I've bookmarked it)! I quickly discovered it isn't a chipmunk because there are no
stripes on its face. So I investigated the squirrels link and I think I've found it.
Skipjack and tehag, you may be right about it being an antelope ground squirrel but I THINK it's a golden manteled ground squirrel because of the
distinct white stripe bordered by black stripes running down each side.
Anyhow, they are cute little critters, full of personality and fast as the dickens!
Thanks again for your help!David K - 9-9-2006 at 03:46 PM
After looking at various squirrel and chipmonk photos (thanks for the links everyone), I am now unsure of what to call the small critters I see all
over the Baja desert that I thought were chipmonks or gerbils (where are gerbil photos?)... You see them running across dirt roads all over... very
small, no long tail... anyone?
Me too, David K
tigerdog - 9-9-2006 at 04:14 PM
The thing with these little squirrels is they run with their tails curled up over their backs, so from any distance it looks like they don't have
tails at all. And from any distance you also can't see stripes or much in the way of color without binoculars-- and they run too fast for that.
On the road to Puerto Penasco (Sonora) I've seen little critters dead in the road ALL the time, and other little squirrely critters dining on the
carcasses (eeewwwww). Now I've learned that these squirrels (and some others) will actually eat meat, mostly carrion.
So are these all the same kind, or several different species, or or or... What? And do they practice cannabalism? (eeeewwwwww again)
Don't think so.
Skipjack Joe - 9-9-2006 at 04:55 PM
When keying out a species I like to use maps of their known distribution as well as trying to match up pictures of the found specimen.
I seemed to remember from my old 'Guide to the Sierra Nevada' pictures of the golden manteled ground squirrel. I also remember them from summer camps
in the Mammoth area.
So I did some searching and found that that species does not inhabit baja california. Having seen many of them over the years I don't remember them
with their tails flattened along their backs as your picture shows.
The following link shows the distribution of the golden manteled ground squirrel. Primarily found in the west it occurs in the Great Basin desert, in
the our Sierras, and Yellowstone. The link shows their distribution in California only. They're a montane and high desert animal. The only area in
souther california they're found is in the Tehachapi mountains near Bakersfield.
I do not know what they are called but when I lived near Eldorado ranch I was driving a big 4x4 concersion van that belonged to the company I worked
for. I was heading into San Felipe when out of the Dog house pops the Juancito. I am startled to say the least and just about drove off the road.
They had made a nice nest on the intake manifold and aparently it got warm. I cleaned out the nest (foam from the seats and los of Beans) I found a
snake under it a coupe days later and never saw the Juancito again. I assume that nature took care of the problem.vgabndo - 9-10-2006 at 11:43 AM
In these parts, Nor Cal, the Golden Mantled is the one most often confused with the Chipmonk as they are most similar in size and behavior, but they
are still larger than their Chipmonk "cousins". The scats are almost indistinguishable. Footprints can be really difficult, and I'm not too good at
them. My references say that the Chipmonk's bounding hops will land all four feet in almost as tight a pattern as they will fit, where the Golden
Mantled Ground Squirrel's trailing foot will be about as far behind the front feet as the front feet are apart.
So, onto your hands and knees and let's figure this
out.
