Who’s Out There? How Golden is your Mantle

The snow had cleared the edges of the mountain stream I visit regularly and the critters were feverishly looking for food. I looked up and saw a Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel, bounding across the rocks on the other side of the stream. He probably thought, HUMAN! There’s bound to be food over there! It got a whiff of me, and went back to the shore. It fretted and chatted, like it was cussing me out, and I just sat still letting him know I wasn’t going to bother him.

After a few minutes, he got the message and bounded back across the rocks. He found himself at a place where there was about 10 feet between the rock he was on and the next rock. I stared at him, curious as to what he would do. Between the two rocks was snow cold twirling and dancing waters. Waters I wouldn’t want to get in. The ground squirrel stopped for a moment and just when I thought he would turn around and try another way, he lept off the water surrounded rock into the air for 8 feet! He landed in the turbulent waters and SWAM the remaining two feet to the next rock!! I think that was the broadest smile I’d ever had. I sat there with so much more respect and admiration for that squirrel. He had swam in waters I wouldn’t have even swam in as it was barely above the temperature of ice, and it was moving fast. The squirrel climbed into some nearby bare willow bushes and cleaned the excess water from his fur. Luckily the sun was fully out that day, and he could dry off quickly.

I still laugh when I think about the squirrel flying through the air, 8 whole feet, landing in the water and swimming. There’s a triathlete I would not want to compete with.

The Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel is a frequent visitor to my camps and woodland stays. He is a critter that is often confused for his cousin, the Chipmunk.

He seems to be more timid than his striped faced space mate and I could only get a photo of him thanks to the wondrous technology of Samsung.

As I sat next to my woodland stream, enjoying the snow-cold waters rapidly descending down to the lake below, the Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel frittered in and out of the bushes, hoping I’d drop some delicious tidbit of food.

Unlike the chipmunks who would come sniffing around my chair to see what treasures there were, this guy stayed on the fringes, as if he feared I might take off his head!

He would start to run across my path, and then see me move, and quickly fleet back in the other direction.

This particular critter may be new to having people camp out during the melting snows. Most campers won’t show up for another couple of weeks when it starts to warm up. But this squirrel, who’s been hibernating all winter, has to get busy and put on some weight and replenish his food storage supply.

So if I leave some crumbs (and I usually do), then it gives him a little variety from his normal pine nuts, and seeds.

Another distinguishing feature between the Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel and his almost identical twin the chipmunk, is the fact that as his name indicates, he’s more golden than the red-brown of our local southern Colorado chipmunks.

These guys are cute and fun to watch but they also provide an important role to the sustainability of our planet. They are food to hawks and owls, but more important is they are nature’s gardeners. They love to bury the seeds they gather and luckily for the forest they tend to forget where they planted them. This distributes plant varieties throughout the forests, and provides a steady supply of seedlings to take over from older generations.

And a couple fun tidbits. Squirrels can see ultraviolet light! When you see them standing up in the sun, chests up. It’s because they’re communicating with any other squirrels that may be around. Also, it can be annoying when squirrels get into our yards and feeders and chew on them. But it turns out they’re doing it for their survival! They have incisors that grow continuously and if they don’t keep them trimmed down, then the pointed teeth will just keep growing and possibly penetrate their skull or their lower jaw. Once I learned this I thought I’d start putting out a little chewing block for them.

So next time you see one of these striped beauties, stop and quiz yourself. Is it a chipmunk or a Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel? And you’ll find your camp mates are impressed you know the difference!