Cape Ground Squirrel
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 Cape Ground Squirrel (Xerus inauris)
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| Xerus inauris (Zimmerman, 1780) |
The Cape Ground Squirrel (Latin name Xerus inauris) is found in most of the drier parts of Southern Africa from South Africa through to Botswana and into Namibia.
The name Cape Ground Squirrel is somewhat misleading as it actually has a much wider area of distribution. This common name may have been arrived at to distinguish it from a tree squirrel found around Cape Town which was imported from Europe by settlars. Fortunately this introduced squirrel has remained in a narrow area in Cape Town and does not seem to be a negative influence on local fauna.
[edit] References
- Griffin, M. & Coetzee, N. 2004. Xerus inauris. In: IUCN 2006. [www.iucnredlist.org 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]. Downloaded on 21 August 2007.
- Thorington, R. W. Jr. and R. S. Hoffman. 2005. Family Sciuridae. Pp. 754-818 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
