GUESS WHO'S BACK

This little fella and his whole family live under the Jersey Barriers at Road America...the race track in Elkhart Lake, WI where I am track photographer. I always eat lunch at Turn 14 with my corner worker friends and this gopher, in reality a 13-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecimlineatus) typically panhandles for whatever he can get. In addition to the daily feed of dry roasted peanuts, bread crusts and cherry pits, he occasionally scores an apple wedge. This will feed the entire family. Mom recently gave birth to a bunch of little ones who are learning "survival skills" from the old man.