Critically Endangered
Speckled ground squirrel
Spermophilus suslicus
Speckled ground squirrel is a rodent in the family Sciuridae (order Rodentia) — Spermophilus suslicus, recorded as Critically Endangered.
Appearance
The speckled ground squirrel has dark-brown fur with white spots on its back and a short, thin tail.
It grows to a length of 25 cm (10 in) and a weight of 280 g (10 oz).
Range and habitat
It is found in Belarus, Moldova, Poland, European Russia, and Ukraine. Its natural habitat is temperate grassland and it is also found on cultivated ground. It is threatened by the loss and fragmentation of its habitat.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Habits
The speckled ground squirrel is a diurnal species that hibernates from October to April.
In crisis
It is threatened by habitat loss. The population is believed to be experiencing continuing decline, with habitat fragmentation and loss occurring. In the 1996 IUCN Red List review, the speckled ground squirrel was listed as vulnerable, and in the 2008 and 2021 reviews, as near threatened.
In the 2024 IUCN list update, it was listed as critically endangered, due to a 99% decline in the global population over the past 30 years. According to the IUCN, habitat destruction due to agricultural expansion, as well as climate change, puts the entire species at risk of extinction in the next 20–30 years.
Speckled ground squirrel is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Speckled ground squirrel, Wikidata item Q854681. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
