We’re listening to the sounds of Arctic Ground Squirrels – also known as Sik-siks. This time of year in Alaska, Sik-Siks are coming out of a long winter’s hibernation. But conditions are still pretty harsh, and the question is – why emerge from hibernation now? I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“We see our first Sik-Siks in mid-April when they, the males first tunnel out of the burrows and come above ground for the first time. Often having to go through several feet of snow.”
Brian Barnes is an associate professor Zoophysiology at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska.
“It’s still very much winter on the north slope. So, though the days are longer it’s still quite cold. Dropping to minus twenty, minus thirty at night. So that’s quite a hostile environment and one of the things we’re interested in is why is it that these ground squirrels who could wait another month and a half and emerge from hibernation when things were thawed and even green, come out so early. And one answer to that is that they’re trying to give their kids the head start that they’ll need to grow and get ready for hibernation themselves.”
Things will start to turn green around June first in south central Alaska, but the first frost comes around the beginning of August.
“So that really only leaves six, seven weeks of good productive growth for animals to eat and fatten and to get ready for winter. So we’d see the first male in mid-April.”
Well, in a few weeks if that male is able to find a mate, then their babies will be born in May, and emerging from their burrows in June — just when conditions are right for the babies to fatten up and prepare for their first hibernation.
Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.