Daurian ground squirrel (Spermophilus dauricus) is the main animal model used in hibernation researches. This species has many fantastic physiological adaptive characteristics, such as adaptation to extreme hypothermia, low metabolism, resistance to ischemia-reperfusion injury, muscle atrophy, and unique mechanisms of body fat accumulation. These characters make the Daurian ground squirrel as the unique model with important reference significance and research value in clinical and space flight applications. Application of Daurian ground squirrel as a model animal will help to further explore the physiological mechanisms mentioned above. In this review, we first introduced the biological characteristics and research values for clinical and space flight applications of the Daurian ground squirrels. Then, we introduced the current progress in the breeding and experimental animalization of the Daurian ground squirrels in the laboratory and field researches. Finally, we proposed precautions for the experimental animalization process of this species.