The Barbary ground squirrel is found on the Barbary Coast of Western Sahara, Morocco and Algeria on the seaward side of the Atlas Mountains and was introduced into the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands in 1965. It is the only species of squirrel to inhabit Africa north of the Sahara barring a small population of striped ground squirrel in southern Morocco. Its habitat is arid rocky ground and it is found in mountainous regions up to an altitude of about .