Sentence:  In some areas, <WSD>ground squirrels</WSD> may present a potential health problem because they carry ectoparasites that may transmit diseases such as bubonic plague to humans. / The adult California <WSD>ground squirrel</WSD> has a head and body 9 to 11 inches (23-28 cm) long and a somewhat bushy tail that is about as long as the body. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Any of a number of medium-sized squirrel-like borrowing rodents of the tribe Marmotini (i.e., excluding the smaller chipmunks and the larger marmots and prairie dogs).