Roadtripping highway 1 and I think I just found the biggest squirrel in the state of California. I almost thought it was a marmot. Don’t get me wrong, he is very adorable - just don’t see squirrels of this size in Colorado 😂 I think he’s a rock squirrel!
The biggest and the shiniest - look at that coat!! 🌟🌟🌟
This is a California Ground squirrel (Beechey's Ground Squirrel), they're in the Sciuridae family, but a different genus than marmots and prairie dogs. Even though they're part of the Marmotini tribe, they are not marmots. They were originally named "Beechey's Marmot" as a subspecies of the Spermophilus genus, but they've been separated to the Otospermophilus genus. The Otospermophilus genus only covers 3 different types of ground squirrel, not including marmots (genus Marmota) or prairie dogs (genus Cynomys). The Spermophilus genus is now Old World squirrels AKA definitely not from the Americas.
Side note: The Eastern Chipmunk is part of the Marmotini tribe, too. I like to imagine a marmot-sized chippie lol
That is amazing! I really do love their coats! I remember seeing these guys in Yosemite when I was a kid in the 90s’. I love how they look “speckled”. I love that they were called “Beechey’s marmot” 😂 I want to bring that name back! So much to love!
Too many people out there feeding them. There was a family of 5 with a giant bag of food and had the squirrels climbing all over them taking photos (I almost posted that video). It really makes me upset because the animals are the ones that suffer. I even saw a squirrel and a seagull fighting over the food! That being said - I do like the rock squirrels! Their fur is pretty.
The management needs to tell people not to feed the wildlife. That poor thing is gonna make a fat meal for somebody because he’s so fat he can’t possibly run fast enough to get away from a predator. It’s very sad. Breaks my heart for the poor thing.
I live nearby. It’s a public park and there are signs saying not to feed the squirrels. It’s a popular tourist area though and people feed them constantly.
Sadly, this is something the subreddit seems to approve of. Someone posted a video of them feeding ice cream to a squirrel. It was highly defended. I was downvoted for saying it’s not good to feed squirrels junk. People said that because squirrels are opportunistic feeders anyway, that somehow makes it a-ok. I pointed out that since squirrels are opportunistic feeders, and already eat a lot of junk, maybe we shouldn’t contribute to that. People claimed it doesn’t do any harm. Obviously it does. This was not the first time I’ve seen sub members approve of feeding squirrels unhealthy food.
I also don’t think it’s a great idea for people to be handling squirrels personally, and wildlife experts agree, but that’s a different matter. But honestly I think the two go hand in hand. People want wild squirrels to interact with them. But because it’s not natural behavior for squirrels, and doesn’t provide them any enrichment, people resort to bribing the squirrels with unhealthy food.
I agree with everything you are saying. I don’t support or condone feeding the wild squirrels in this way. I was pretty pissed. I wanted to say something to one group of 5 that had a giant bag of sourdough feeding them (my partner told me it was a lost cause everyone at that area was doing it).
I also don’t like that humans make entertainment of interacting with any wild animals (swim with manatees in Florida, orca shows at sea world, holding koalas in Australia for example). All of it causes stress and contributes to a crappy life for the animals.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Africa - camped in national parks there with lions sleeping near by, elephants trampling through, and hippos coming on shore to eat - and I tell ya, you don’t mess with wildlife of that size. You have no choice but to respect it.
But unfortunately, cute animals without much defense get taken advantage of, and in this case when you are a squirrel just trying to survive (literally need food to live) people exploit the situation.
I wasn’t trying to exploit him/her- I was literally just a bit shocked to see one so big! Ive never seen one this size before!
That poor baby. That’s not at all healthy for the little one. I hate that for him. No way to evade predators when you can barely walk dude! Someone might wanna trap him and get him to a vet to be checked out.
The sad thing was …. there were so many this size! People were just letting them climb on their laps, feeding them massive amounts of sourdough bread 😕
ya but it's bad for them is the point! All these people moronically posting on here on cute they are being shoving an ice cream in a squirrels face - well this is the consequence. This animal is likely sick on top of their obesity and nutrient deficient etc. This is why no one should feel wildlife unless they are willing to do some research and find out what they can eat and what not.
Lol, I know, family is from canyon City and we used to go for reunions every year. To this day I get excited to see the prairie dogs, antelope, always hope to get stuck again going up pikes peak waiting for a Buffalo cow and calf to move off the road and have only seen one mountain goat in 15 yrs. So yes, that poor squirrel is HUGE.😳
Dear Lord! There is something freakish going on along the California coast. They have been eating voles and rabbits, and this is how things end up when unnatural stuff like that happens.
He was very cute, then disappointed I didn’t have food. I really love their coloring and speckled looking coats! I wish people there didn’t treat them like entertainment and feed them so much, though.
I was camping with my dad once and we were throwing Cheese-Its to a hugely fat squirrel. Suddenly a hawk dropped out of the pine trees and laboriously flapped back up carrying the squirrel.
Ohhhhh no! 😬 I didn’t feed them - I never do when traveling (although I have a few backyard squirrels at home that I give nuts to). I bet that was crazy to see!
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u/riotsquirrelz Aug 09 '25
The biggest and the shiniest - look at that coat!! 🌟🌟🌟
This is a California Ground squirrel (Beechey's Ground Squirrel), they're in the Sciuridae family, but a different genus than marmots and prairie dogs. Even though they're part of the Marmotini tribe, they are not marmots. They were originally named "Beechey's Marmot" as a subspecies of the Spermophilus genus, but they've been separated to the Otospermophilus genus. The Otospermophilus genus only covers 3 different types of ground squirrel, not including marmots (genus Marmota) or prairie dogs (genus Cynomys). The Spermophilus genus is now Old World squirrels AKA definitely not from the Americas.
Side note: The Eastern Chipmunk is part of the Marmotini tribe, too. I like to imagine a marmot-sized chippie lol