Habitat: Brushy edges of tallgrass prairie with herbaceous vegetation nearby.

Description:  Back is covered in alternating spotted and pale stripes.  Between the stripes, the coat is brown in color.  The nose, cheeks, belly and eye circle are all pale in color.  It has large eyes, and small ears.

Size: 21-30cm long, 83-230g

Diet: Seeds, insects, slugs, young birds, mice, berries, fruits, and carrion.

Fun Facts: The stripes of a Thirteen lined ground squirrel look strange, but they are there because they help it to blend perfectly with the bits of light and shadow found on the ground in an area with long grass.

Source: Pattie, D. and C. Fisher. 1999. Mammals of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing.