chipmunk

 

rodent of the family Sciuridae (squirrel family). The chipmunk of the E United States and SE Canada is of the genus Tamias. The body of the common Eastern chipmunk, Tamias striatus, is about 5 to 6 in. (13–15 cm) long; the upper parts are reddish brown or grayish brown with a median black stripe and two black stripes separated by a whitish band along each side. The tail, 4 to 5 in. (10–13 cm) long, is hairy and flattened. Food is transported in the expansible cheek pouches. Chipmunks make underground burrows, often with concealed entrances beneath stone walls or trees. Although chipmunks are usually found near the ground, they are excellent climbers. In its northern range the chipmunk goes underground about the end of October but sleeps deeply only during the coldest period. Food for the winter is stored in the burrow. Chipmunks eat nuts, seeds, berries, and insects. Although they are numerous, these animals are not serious threats to crops. The typical life span is 5 years. The chipmunks of W North America belong, like those of E Asia, to the genus Eutamias. Chipmunks are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Sciuridae.

This article is about the animal. For the military training aircraft, see De Havilland Chipmunk. For the fictional musical group, see The Chipmunks.

Chipmunks Fossil range: Early Miocene to Recent
Tamias rufus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Sciuridae Tribe: Marmotini Genus: Tamias Illiger, 1811
Species
25 species

Chipmunk is the common name for any small squirrel-like rodent species of the genus Tamias in the family Sciuridae.

Etymology and taxonomy

Tamias is Latin for "storer," a reference to the animals' habit of collecting and storing food for winter use.^[1] Twenty-five species belong to this family,^[2] with one species in northeastern Asia, one in eastern North America, and the rest native to western North America.

The name originally may have been spelled "chitmunk" (from the Odawa word jidmoonh, meaning "red squirrel"; c.f. Ojibwe, ajidamoo). However, the earliest form cited in the Oxford English Dictionary (from 1842) is "chipmonk". Other early forms include "chipmuck" and "chipminck", and in the 1830s they were also referred to as "chip squirrels," possibly in reference to the sound they make. They are also called "striped squirrels" or "ground squirrels," though the name "ground squirrel" more often refers to the genus Spermophilus. Tamias and Spermophilus are only two of the 13 genera of ground-living sciurids.

Ecology and life history

Eastern chipmunks mate in early spring and again in early summer, producing litters of four or five young twice each year. Western chipmunks only breed once a year. The young emerge from the burrow after about six weeks and strike out on their own within the next two weeks.

Though they are commonly depicted with their paws up to the mouth, eating peanuts, or more famously their cheeks bulging out on either side, chipmunks eat a variety of foods. Their omnivorous diet consists of grain, nuts, birds' eggs, fungi, worms, and insects. At the beginning of autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile these goods in their burrows, for winter. Other species make multiple small caches of food. These two kinds of behavior are called larder hoarding and scatter hoarding. Larder hoarders usually live in their nests until spring.

These small squirrels fulfill several important functions in forest ecosystems. Their activities harvesting and hoarding tree seeds play a crucial role in seedling establishment. They consume many different kinds of fungi, including those involved in symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with trees, and are an important vector for dispersal of the spores of subterranean sporocarps (truffles) which have co-evolved with these and other mycophagous mammals and thus lost the ability to disperse their spores through the air.

Chipmunks play an important role as prey for various predatory mammals and birds, but are also opportunistic predators themselves, particularly with regard to bird eggs and nestlings. In Oregon, Mountain Bluebirds (Siala currucoides) have been observed energetically mobbing chipmunks that they see near their nest trees.

Chipmunks construct expansive burrows which can be more than 3.5 m in length with several well-concealed entrances. The sleeping quarters are kept extremely clean as shells and feces are stored in refuse tunnels.

If unmolested they often become bold enough to take food from the hands of humans. The temptation to pick up or pet any wild animal should be strictly avoided, however. While rabies is exceptionally rare (if not non-existent) in rodents, chipmunk bites can transmit virulent and dangerous bacterial infections.

Species

Alpine Chipmunk, Tamias alpinus Yellow-pine Chipmunk, Tamias amoenus Buller's Chipmunk Tamias bulleri Gray-footed Chipmunk, Tamias canipes Gray-collared Chipmunk, Tamias cinereicollis Cliff Chipmunk, Tamias dorsalis Durango ChipmunkTamias durangae Merriam's Chipmunk, Tamias merriami Least Chipmunk, Tamias minimus California Chipmunk, Tamias obscurus Yellow-cheeked Chipmunk, Tamias ochrogenys Palmer's Chipmunk, Tamias palmeri

Panamint Chipmunk, Tamias panamintinus Long-eared Chipmunk, Tamias quadrimaculatus Colorado Chipmunk, Tamias quadrivittatus Red-tailed Chipmunk, Tamias ruficaudus Hopi Chipmunk, Tamias rufus Allen's Chipmunk, Tamias senex Siberian Chipmunk, Tamias sibiricus Siskiyou Chipmunk, Tamias siskiyou Sonoma Chipmunk, Tamias sonomae Lodgepole Chipmunk, Tamias speciosus Eastern Chipmunk, Tamias striatus Townsend's Chipmunk, Tamias townsendii Uinta Chipmunk, Tamias umbrinus

References

• Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm (1995). A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

External links

• Etymology Online: Chipmunk
• Wildlife and Nature - Chipmunkpdc:Fensemaus

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