The return of the European ground squirrel

European ground squirrel. Photo: Pavel Brandl, Prague Zoo

Habitat loss, the disappearance of pastureland, changes in grassland management, and culling have all contributed to the species’ dramatic decline during the 20th century. Ground squirrels depend on areas with very short grass, where they can spot approaching danger in time—and such habitats have become increasingly rare. Paradoxically, suitable conditions for these rodents are today found more often on airfields and golf courses than in natural landscapes.

At the beginning of the millennium, only around 25 surviving colonies were known in the Czech Republic, with an estimated total of 2,500–3,000 individuals. That may sound like a lot, but it means there was roughly one ground squirrel for every 4,000 people! Even today, the situation remains serious, although, thanks to sustained conservation efforts, ground squirrel numbers have increased. Since 2018, the population has remained stable at around 5,500 individuals or more.

Prague Zoo has joined the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic (AOPK ČR) in implementing the action plan for the European ground squirrel. In 2006, a 130-square-metre enclosure was built in the steppe area of Prague Zoo, on the slope below the Sklenářka building, behind the African Savannah exhibit—an area where the species still lived in the 1960s. That same year, the first “test group” of four individuals was released into the enclosure, followed in 2007 by another 23, mostly captured from a thriving colony in Letňany, a municipal part of Prague. By 2008, the ground squirrels had begun to reproduce, and by 2010, a stable colony had been established.

Two years later, the first individuals were released to live freely on the grassy slope below Sklenářka, where short vegetation is maintained by targeted sheep grazing. To monitor how the population is faring, annual trapping surveys are conducted. The success of the programme is reflected not only in the regular births recorded each year but also in the fact that the ground squirrels have expanded beyond the enclosure and its immediate surroundings. By 2015, they had appeared in other open areas—including the African Savannah exhibit and the off-exhibit areas near the hay barn at “Bosna” (between the Northern Forest exhibit and the road to Podhoří). They have even been recorded along the Vltava River, in the gardens of the Czech University of Life Sciences, despite the threats posed by weather, cats, foxes, and the like.

In 2024, the project entered a new phase with the long-planned relocation of ground squirrels from the African Savannah exhibit below the Sklenářka building to a large adaptation cage within the Przewalski’s horse enclosure at Dívčí hrady, a district in Prague. Thirty animals were released on site. For the coming years, the ground squirrels will remain exclusively within the cage, with any new offspring potentially being used for release into the wild as part of the action plan.

One of the ground squirrels from the Sklenářka colony during annual monitoring. Photo: Oliver Le Que, Prague Zoo