![]() They lack the longitudinal stripes characteristic of other Xerus species. Unstriped ground squirrels are the smallest ground squirrels in the genus Xerus, weighing between 260 and 420 g, and measuring 200 to 255 mm in head and body length with a 120 to 225 mm long tail. The are also found in small gullies associated with lava gravel flats and have been recorded at elevations ranging from sea level to approximately 2000 meters. Unstriped ground squirrels also occupy termite mounds or burrows excavated by other species. In Harar Province, Ethiopia, they are also recorded around stands of prickly pear cactus. They live in burrows at the stem bases of Salvadora thickets, low-lying stunted acacias or in long-standing zarebas. Unstriped ground squirrels are fossorial and associated with arid, open shrub and bush savannah, as well as riverine areas where the soil is soft for burrowing. Striped ground squirrels are the only African ground squirrels that occur sympatrically with unstriped ground squirrels. Considered the most common ground squirrel of eastern Ethiopia, their geographic range in Kenya appears to be contracting in some areas, possibly as a result of displacement by the larger, more aggressive striped ground squirrels ( Xerus erythropus). They are native to Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. They are endemic to East Africa and have been recorded in the region encompassed by Sudan, Tanzania and Somalia. ![]() ![]() Unstriped ground squirrels belong to the Xerini tribe of ground squirrels characteristic of the arid country of northeastern Africa. ![]()
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