Pictures By Alan

Years ago I noticed the squirrels on the cliffs were darker than the squirrels here in College Station. But, unlike our squirrels, they are incredibly shy, and I was never able to photograph them. I noticed this one from a long way off, and was able to approach fairly close before it ran away. The photo shows more detail than I've ever been able to make out. These squirrels seem to live in the rocks; though there were trees everywhere it did not attempt to climb to safety. It ran along the cliff rocks and hid among them.

For no particular reason I Googled for Texas Squirrel Species. It looks like this is a Rock Squirrel, Spermophilus Variegatus. Details are at http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/spervari.htm .