User:Erinkaline/Cape ground squirrel

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Behavior and ecology

Cape ground squirrels live mainly in arid or semiarid areas. They prefer to live in veld and grasslands with hard ground. They can also be found in scrub along pans, on floodplains and in agricultural areas. Ground squirrel are generally active during the day and do not hibernate. They are burrowing animals that dig and live in clusters of burrows averaging around 700 square meters (7,500 sq ft) with 2-100 entrances. Burrow serve to protect the squirrel from extreme temperatures at the surface as well as predators. Nevertheless, most of the day is spent feeding at the surface. Squirrels shade their head and back with their bushy tails, which was originally thought to be important for thermoregulation. However, research has revealed that tail raising does not actually decrease core body temperature and seems to mostly serve as a way for squirrels to cool the skin and increase their thermal comfort as they forage in the hot sun in between visits to their burrows. Burrowing has been shown to reduce the squirrel’s core body temperature by a few degrees Celsius. Squirrels tend to leave the burrows earlier in the morning in the summer months to avoid the heat, and in the winter months their core body temperature increases rapidly upon exiting their burrows.