Nebraska has just 3 records of the spotted ground squirrel since 2000, two from Scotts Bluff County in the Panhandle and one from Dundy County in the southwest. None comes from the state’s wetter eastern half. That’s the expected geography for a small, pale ground squirrel of sandy shortgrass country, living at the northern edge of a range centered on the arid Southwest.
Open ground, and a summer-only calendar
This is a squirrel of sparse grass and bare, sandy soil, the kind of country around Scotts Bluff National Monument, Chimney Rock, and the Oglala National Grassland, all in the Panhandle. It’s also an animal that disappears underground for the cold months, and Nebraska’s three dated records all fall in June and July. Three points can’t trace a season, though long hibernation and thin observer effort both help explain how rarely it turns up. The most recent confirmed report dates to June 2024.
Too little information to grade
NatureServe lists the species as unrankable (SU) in Nebraska, meaning the available information doesn’t support any standing grade at all. For a burrower that’s easy to overlook, active above ground for only part of the year, and living at the edge of its range, that unresolved rank is less a red flag than an honest admission: Nebraska’s picture of this squirrel is still mostly blanks.
Full species profile
