Little ground squirrel

Weight

136 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

7.08 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

7.1 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

26.6 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

7.39src for Young per litter or clutch

Litters or clutches a year

1src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

By day (diurnal)src for Active

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The little ground squirrel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderRodentia
5. familySciuridae
6. genusSpermophilus
7. SpeciesSpermophilus pygmaeus (Pallas, 1778)

Synonyms Citellus pygmaeus, Mus citillus var. pygmea, Mus pygmaeus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

EN, Endangered

European ground squirrel

Spermophilus citellus

Sciuridae

CR, Critically Endangered

Speckled ground squirrel

Spermophilus suslicus

Sciuridae

LC, Least Concern

Yellow ground squirrel

Spermophilus fulvus

Sciuridae

NT, Near Threatened

Russet ground squirrel

Spermophilus major

Sciuridae

LC, Least Concern

Relict ground squirrel

Spermophilus relictus

Sciuridae

LC, Least Concern

Alashan ground squirrel

Spermophilus alashanicus

Sciuridae

CompareLittle ground squirrel vs European ground squirrelLittle ground squirrel vs Speckled ground squirrelLittle ground squirrel vs Yellow ground squirrelLittle ground squirrel vs Russet ground squirrel

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{little_ground_squirrel_2026,
  title = {Little ground squirrel (Spermophilus pygmaeus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/little-ground-squirrel},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}