Yellow Ground Squirrel (Souslik) Spermophilus fulvus

The Yellow Ground Squirrel or Souslik is native to Central Asia. Photos on this page are by Alexandra Makhnina who got closer, better photos than I did.

Larger and stockier than their European cousin, their habitat is dry, arid steppe and desert where they live in gregarious systems of burrows. They hibernate in the burrows in winter.

They eat most parts of the sparse vegetation: seeds but also leaves, stems and roots.