---
title: "European Ground Squirrel"
description: "Spermophilus citellus — Mammiferi. The European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus), also known as the European souslik, is a species from the squirrel family, Sciuridae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/european-ground-squirrel
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# European Ground Squirrel

> Spermophilus citellus — Mammiferi. The European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus), also known as the European souslik, is a species from the squirrel family, Sciuridae.

- Scientific name: *Spermophilus citellus*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammiferi)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Prati e campi)
- iNaturalist observations: 2457
- Wikidata: [Q623466](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q623466)
- iNaturalist taxon: [46037](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/46037)

## Names

- en: European Ground Squirrel
- de: Europäischer Ziesel
- es: Ardilla Terrestre
- fr: Souslik d'Europe
- nl: Siesel
- pl: Suseł moręgowany

## Countries with the most observations

AT (1102), RO (326), CZ (246), HU (185), SK (184), BG (95), GR (43), TR (30), RS (21), PL (9), UA (4)

## Summary

The European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus), also known as the European souslik, is a species from the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It is among the few European species in the genus Spermophilus. Like all squirrels, it is a member of the rodent order. It is to be found in eastern and central Europe from southern Ukraine, to Asia Minor, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and north as far as Poland but the range is divided in two parts by the Carpathian Mountains.
The European ground squirrel grows to a length of approximately 20 cm (8…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_ground_squirrel

## Photo

![European Ground Squirrel](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/european-ground-squirrel/medium.jpg)

Photo: Patrascu Lucian-Marius · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/371671727

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/european-ground-squirrel?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).