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What I really hate is when
people do their controlling
when the females are lactating
because I know the baby
ground squirrels are sitting
underground waiting for their
mommy to come with milk.
GAIL MICHENER
UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE
aware that her research can be used
in part to kill ground squirrels that are
considered troublesome.
“I certainly accept that there are
situations under which the numbers
of ground squirrels reaches the point
where it’s definitely going to have an
impact,” she said.
Strychnine is a commonly used
poison to kill ground squirrels.
Though effective, it won’t eliminate
them for long periods because they
will re-invade when there is an existing
burrow system and when environmental
conditions are right.
Michener said farmers need to
accept some loss to ground squirrels,
just as they accept some grain losses
out the back of their combines.
“You make a compromise there,
and so there’s probably compromises
that we can make with the ground
squirrels, too. Tolerate this many,
and once it gets to that many, do
something about it.”
Ideally, adults should be controlled
in early spring, before many of them
have mated. Females generally
become pregnant within 10 days of
emerging from hibernation. About
one month later, there are six to eight
times as many ground squirrels.
“Now you’ve got a big task and it’s
not really the right time to deal with it
because you’ve got a bigger job than
you would have had if you’d taken
action in the spring.”
Adult males enter hibernation in
June and females in July, so poisoning
in summer will kill juveniles but
has no impact on adult populations.
“They will come back next year
even if you manage to get rid of the
juveniles,” Michener said.
She said farmers may not consider
it,but there is a humane element in
the timing of control efforts.
“What I really hate is when people
do their controlling when the females
are lactating because I know the baby
ground squirrels are sitting underground
waiting for their mommy to
come with milk. She never comes
and they slowly starve to death.
“I think farmers should be humane,
and so if they’re going to control, they
should control first thing in the
spring, as soon as the animals are
coming out of hibernation.”
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RODENTS | POCKET GOPHER, GROUND SQUIRREL
They’re not gophers.
Those prairie rodents that dig burrows,
attract predators and snack on
farmers’ crops are Richardson’s
ground squirrels.
Gail Michener, a biologist with 30
years of research on the ubiquitous
prairie mammals, makes the point
clearly in her lectures.
“The name gopher has become
very well entrenched in every day
usage,” she said in a Nov. 30 lecture at
the University of Lethbridge.
“But the animal that you’re familiar
with … is the Richardson’s ground
squirrel.”
Michener said there are 25 species
of ground squirrels in North America
and they share common characteristics
of hibernation, foraging
above ground during the day and
going underground for sleep and
protection.
Other members of the squirrel fam-
NEWS
Diet, sleep habits differ between
pocket gopher, ground squirrel
ily include chipmunks, prairie dogs,
marmots and woodchucks.
In contrast, there is only one
gopher species in Alberta, the pocket
gopher.
“They have an entirely different
lifestyle,” said Michener. “They’re
non-hibernators so they are active
year round. They are root eaters, so
they forage below ground.… The rare
THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | DECEMBER 13, 2012
The pocket gopher, left, is the only true gopher on the Prairies. On the right is the Richardson’s ground squirrel, which is commonly called a gopher.
| FILE PHOTOS
(Pocket gophers) are nonhibernators
so they are active
year round. They are root eaters,
so they forage below ground.…
The rare occasions they do come
above ground, it’s at night.
GAIL MICHENER
UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE
Kim McConnell
2012 Inductee
Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame
Congratulations from all your friends at FCC
All sectors, all provinces, all the time. Your enthusiasm
for Canadian agriculture knows no bounds. As a leader
in industry associations and marketing, you’ve ensured
that for generations in our industry, the journey really
will continue.
Kim, you’re a true Hall of Famer.
occasions they do come above
ground, it’s at night.”
Gophers close up their holes when
they go back underground, leaving
mounds of freshly dug soil.
Michener found no audience
response to her query about the
identity of Richardson, the person for
whom the familiar prairie ground
squirrels are named.
Sir John Richardson was an explorer,
surgeon and naturalist who travelled
with the first two Franklin
expeditions that were tasked with
finding the Northwest Passage.
He was not aboard Franklin‘s third
ill-fated expedition that was lost in
1845.
Michener said Richardson came in
contact with ground squirrels on one
of the expedition’s cross-country
treks from Hudson’s Bay to the Arctic
Ocean, and sent specimens to the
British Museum in 1820.
INDEPTH LOOK
AT GROUND SQUIRRELS
31
• Richardson’s ground squirrels
(Urocitellus richardsonii) are also
known as gophers, flickertails and
picket pins
• live in short-grass and mixedgrass
prairies in southern prairie
provinces
• adult males emerge from
hibernation in late February
• adult females emerge from
hibernation about two weeks after
males
• only five to 12 percent of males
live to adulthood because of
mating stresses and predation
• 30 percent of females reach
adulthood
• adult females outnumber males by
three or four to one
• 23 day gestation with one litter
per year
• six to eight offspring per litter
• 25 percent of litters have multiple
sires
• females live in groups and males
live alone
• eat grasses, forbs, cereals, seeds
and some insects
Source: University of Lethbridge, research.uleth.
ca/rgs