Subject: Prairie Dog ?
Date: Jul 8 22:11:31 2002
From: Jim McCoy - jfmccoy at earthlink.net


Ground squirrels can grow to be a foot long, not too much smaller
than prairie dogs, and they look more like them in my estimation
than do Aplodontia or hoary marmots.

Spermophilus lateralis and Spermophilus saturatus are the two
candidates; a possible mitigating factor is that both species
have longitudinal striping, which is rather pronounced in the
case of lateralis.

If your critter was definitely not striped, then you can probably
rule out ground squirrel, but it's something to consider.

Jim McCoy
jfmccoy at earthlink.net
Redmond, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Atkinson [mailto:scottratkinson at hotmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 07, 2002 8:53 PM
To: oh_andrea at hotmail.com; tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Prairie Dog ?


I think Dr. West is right, Aplodontia (AKA Mt. Beaver). They are quite
common in the area; we have them on our land not far from there and I just
noted two new burrows along our loop trail.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com


>From: "Andrea Garcia" <oh_andrea at hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: oh_andrea at hotmail.com
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: Re: Prairie Dog ?
>Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2002 08:57:00 -0700
>
>I bet it was a hoary marmot. Do a search on google images to see a
>picture,
>I have seen marmots in your neck of the woods.
>
>Andrea Garcia
>Sammamish, WA 98074
>mailto:oh_andrea at hotmail.com
>
>==================================
>Prairie Dog?
>
>Date :
>Sat, 6 Jul 2002 21:10:24 EDT
>
>Hi Tweeties,
>
>Just another Critter Question. While driving north on Highway 9 between
>Lake
>Stevens and Arlington early this afternoon a critter tried to scamper
>across
>the road. It wasn't an ordinary squirrel. Nor was it a weasel. It was a
>very
>compact tawny brown critter, with a short tail and ears close to its head.
>The critter stopped midway in the southbound lane, stood up on its back
>legs,
>looked around and ran back into the bushes as I prepared to screech to a
>stop
>for it.
>
>On my way home I stopped at a Marysville pet store that sells Black Tailed
>Prairie Dogs, and darn it, the critter I saw looked for all the world like
>a
>Prairie Dog! VERY CUTE!
>
>Any ideas what this critter might have been?
>
>Lydia Gaebe Bishop
>Somewhere near Lake Cassidy, Snohomish County, WA
>
>
>
>
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