Meet some critters from my country, Northwest USA.
GROUND SQUIRREL, often erroneously called gopher, is characterized by large cheek pouches opening inside its mouth. It resembles both the prairie dog and the chipmunk. Most are brownish or yellowish-gray, with light spots on the upper parts. Some have longitudinal stripes along their backs. In the northern part of a range, it hibernates during the winter; the duration varies with the environment. It's found in open country, often in arid regions. The Great Plains rough-haired ground squirrel, found west of the Rocky Mountains, is 28 cm (11 in) long and has an 8-cm (3-in) bushy tail. Its back is brown, its lower parts yellowish-gray; it has a white chin and a white ring around each eye. The head is stubby, with round, wide ears. The legs are short. It seeks food close to its burrow, and mates after hibernation in the spring; the female bears 5 to 13 offspring at a time. It subsists on mice, insects, and grain.
CHIPMUNK, a cute little rodent with reddish-brown fur, white and black stripes on its back and a long, furry tail. Its cheek pouches extend to the back of the head and, in some, even to the shoulders. It's distinguished from other ground squirrels by its striped face. Chipmunks' sounds are a loud "chip" and a rapid trill. It feeds on grain, nuts, bird eggs, and insects, and lives in a burrow, where it stores food for winter. It remains in the nest until spring, but comes out on warm days during winter. Mating takes place in March, and after a gestation of 31 days the female produces a litter of three to five. The offspring are mature by July and able to breed the following spring.
WEASEL, a lithe, slender animal with elongated neck, muscular, snakelike body, and short legs, varies from 13 to 40 cm (5 to 16 in) in length. Close relatives are the mink, polecats, and ferrets. The male is larger than the female. Its head is small and triangular with narrowed snouts. Nearly all are brown above and white beneath; those in northern regions turn white in winter (ERMINE). In warmer regions weasels retain their brown coat throughout the year. The weasel, which preys on mice, rats, birds, and rabbits, is largely nocturnal. Extremely agile, it attacks animals larger than itself, and sometimes is a serious threat to poultry. Nests are made of straw, leaves, and moss in a ground crevice or a hollow tree. A litter consists of two to twelve young. When young, the weasel can be tamed.
Prairie Dogs are a small, highly social, ground-dwelling rodent closely related to the groundhog and ground squirrel. They are 28 to 33 cm (11 to 13 in) long. They live in "towns" sometimes made up of thousands of individuals; and dwell in holes, dug straight down 1 to 5 m (3 to 16 ft), to nest in hollows. They surface during the day and spend much time grooming each other and defending family territorial boundaries, for which they have elaborate rituals. Prairie dogs build the earth from their holes into conical rings that prevent flooding. They feed on herbs and grasses within range of their holes; their methods of selective browsing and scattering the raw excavated earth from their tunnels attracts a crop of fast-growing weeds, which are eaten later. Their chief predators are hawks, eagles, snakes, and coyotes, for which Prarie dogs stay on alert at their tunnel entrances, sounding a barklike yip as a warning cry when danger threatens. They have short legs and blunt, squirrel-like heads with short ears. Females produce two to ten pups in the spring.
BADGERS, native to the western regions of North America, are heavily furred, distinctly marked, and very strong. They have perineal glands, which emit a fetid odor. About 60 cm (24 in) long, they have a squat, broad body and forelegs armed with long claws which are highly efficient digging tools. They live in deep burrows. The shaggy fur is gray, tipped with brown, and the head is brown with a single white stripe extending from behind the nose and running back along the spine. There are also a few white markings around the ears and eyes. They feed principally on gophers and other pests. The pelts have considerable value.
The GROUNDHOG, woodchuck, or whistler, is a large white and gray rodent found in northwestern North America. It attains a length up to 0.6 m (2 ft), has a bushy tail up to 0.25 m (0.82 ft) long, and is characterized by a blunt snout, short ears, a short bushy tail, and short legs. The fur is coarse. The animal lives in burrows and hibernates during the winter; length of hibernation varies with the severity of the climate. It feeds on vegetation and is sometimes destructive to cultivated crops. The cry is a shrill whistle.
Prairie Dog towns, Badgers holes, and Groundhog burrows are a cowboy's nightmare.
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