ground squirrel

plural ground squirrels

1. countableuncountableAny of a number of medium-sized squirrel-like burrowing rodents of the tribe Marmotini (i.e., excluding the smaller chipmunks and the larger marmots and prairie dogs).

   Earely antelopes are seen, but wolves, rabbits, and sundry ground squirrels abound.

   1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 24

   3 more examples

   Many ground squirrels sit up and look like prairie dogs, but a ground squirrel can be recognized by its longer face and tall.

   1987, Peter Alden, Fiona Reid, Mammals, Peterson Field Guide Color-in Books, page 21

   2003, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Integrated Pest Management for Walnuts, UCANR Publication 3270, page 23, In some areas, ground squirrels may present a potential health problem because they carry ectoparasites that may transmit diseases such as bubonic plague to humans. The adult California ground squirrel has a head and body 9 to 11 inches (23-28 cm) long and a somewhat bushy tail that is about as long as the body.

   Pocket gophers appear to be abundant in the APWRA on both sides of Altamont Pass Road, whereas ground squirrels appear to be abundant only on the north side.

   2003, Lourdes Rugge, Carl G. Thelander, K. Shawn Smallwood, Bird Risk Behaviors and Fatalities at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, page 23

2. countableuncountableAny of the other squirrel-like burrowing rodents of the subfamily Marmotinae.