Image: Spermophilus richardsonii (fossil ground squirrel)
Description: Spermophilus richardsonii (Sabine, 1822) - fossil ground squirrel skeleton from the Pleistocene of Nebraska, USA. (Nebraska State Museum of Natural History, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA) This species is also known as Urocitellus richardsonii. From museum signage: "Ice Age ground squirrel which died in its burrow Dundy County 10,500 years old (Pleistocene) This is one of the youngest fossils in our collection. To be considered a fossil, a specimen must be at least 10,000 years old. Carbon-14 dates on this specimen barely exceed this. The skeleton is similar to that of living Richardson's ground squirrels living in the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains today. " Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Rodentia, Sciuridae Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed site in Dundy County, southwestern Nebraska, USA See info. at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson's_ground_squirrel
Title: Spermophilus richardsonii (fossil ground squirrel)
Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/31566450184/
Author: James St. John
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes
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