Few finds are more interesting than the discovery of ancient arctic ground squirrel nests.
One nest from Dominion Creek, in the Yukon, consisted of nesting grasses, part of a seed cache, and droppings, in addition to the skeleton of a ground squirrel that died in the nest. Preliminary analysis of nest material indicates an abundance of fungi, a common food of living ground squirrels. Future work promises to yield evidence on local plant cover, depth of unfrozen soil, and food habits of ground squirrels toward the close of the last glaciation.