Russet ground squirrel

Weight

269.1 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

1.08 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Herbivoresrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Young per litter or clutch

Not recorded

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

Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The russet ground squirrel is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.

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 Near Threatened species. What the categories mean.

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

Synonyms Citellus major, Citellus rufescens, Mus citillus major, Mus major

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN 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

LC, Least Concern

Little ground squirrel

Spermophilus pygmaeus

Sciuridae

LC, Least Concern

Relict ground squirrel

Spermophilus relictus

Sciuridae

LC, Least Concern

Alashan ground squirrel

Spermophilus alashanicus

Sciuridae

CompareRusset ground squirrel vs European ground squirrelRusset ground squirrel vs Speckled ground squirrelRusset ground squirrel vs Yellow ground squirrelRusset ground squirrel vs Little 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{russet_ground_squirrel_2026,
  title = {Russet ground squirrel (Spermophilus major)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/russet-ground-squirrel},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}