GROUND SQUIRREL POPINDAU URGE

The European souslik is endemic to central and south-eastern Europe, where it occurs at altitudes of 0-2,500 m. Its range is divided in two by the Carpathian mountains. The north-western portion extends through the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, northern Serbia and Montenegro, and western Romania, whilst the south-eastern portion extends from southern Serbia, Macedonia and Greece through Bulgaria and southern Romania to Turkish Thrace, Moldova and Ukraine .
The European souslik is currently in serious decline. Its population has become fragmented, and extinctions have occurred in peripheral parts of its range in Germany (where it went extinct c.1985 because of forestry) and Poland (where the last definite autochthonous records date from the 1970s, although the species has recently been reintroduced (Kryštufek 1999, H. Meinig pers. comm. 2006, A. Gondek pers. comm. 2006). Although there are still some large and apparently stable subpopulations, there have been many reports of declines, especially in the north-western part of its range; it is also declining in the southern part of the range. In optimal habitat, densities of 18-48 individuals per hectare have been recorded, although lower figures of 5-14 individuals per hectare are also reported (Kryštufek 1999). In Romania, the population has been estimated at c.15,000 (Botnariuc and Tatole 2005). In parts of Dobrudja (Romania and Bulgaria) populations may have stabilised and started to increase since 1989, as a result of abandonment of intensive agriculture following the fall of the communist regime (I. Coroiu and D. Murariu pers. comm. 2006). In Greece, populations of two subspecies macedonicus and graolojenici) have been lost (B. Kryštufek pers. comm. 2006).
THESE LITLLE GUYS ARE IN DANGER TO BECOME EXTINCT.