The Indiana Department of Natural Resources released 25 endangered ground squirrels at Kankakee Sands nature preserve in Newton County. Partners in the project hope to eventually reestablish the squirrel in its original northwest Indiana habitat.
The Franklin’s ground squirrel looks like a chubbier tree squirrel without the fluffy tail. It lives underground and hibernates about half the year. Brad Westrich, Indiana DNR state mammalogist, said unlike prairie dogs, they’re not very social — keeping burrows to themselves and their pups.
He said farming and development destroyed a lot of the squirrel’s prairie habitat and fragmented the populations that are still around.
“The negative effects of being isolated from one another for so long eventually took hold and caused small populations to sort of wink out of existence. And what you have happening there is essentially a loss of genetic diversity where they're not able to cope with changes," Westrich said.
Changes like disease, climate change and run-ins with traffic. The squirrel isn't federally endangered and has generally been found in Midwest states like Wisconsin and Nebraska. Westrich said Indiana is the southernmost part of the animal's range.
Read more:Release the squirrels! State endangered ground squirrels find new home at Kankakee Sands