A ground squirrel with small pale spots on its back and a short tail, it eats plants in dry steppe and semidesert and uses underground burrows.
The tail is short relative to the body, and small pale spots mark the back. The back is ochre, while tail color varies among forms from rusty to pale yellow.
It eats seasonal plants in dry steppe and semidesert scrub. It usually burrows at the base of shrubs, hibernating when cold and sometimes aestivating during severe summer heat.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.