Any of several small striped terrestrial squirrels of the genera Tamias and Eutamias, especially T. striatus of eastern North America.
[Alteration of obsolete chitmunk, perhaps from Ojibwa ajidamoonq, red squirrel.]
Dictionary:
chip·munk (chĭp'mŭngk') ![]() |
[Alteration of obsolete chitmunk, perhaps from Ojibwa ajidamoonq, red squirrel.]
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A member of the tribe Marmotini in the rodent family Sciuridae. There are 18 species. The eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) is found in wooded areas of eastern Canada and the United States. The western species, although quite similar to the eastern form, are included in the separate genus Eutamias.
These rodents are intermediate between the squirrels and marmots, having lost the typical bushy tail, tufted ears, and silky fur of the squirrel. They are diurnal animals, active in collecting food such as nuts, grains, and seeds. They fill their large cheek pouches with gathered food to carry it to storage places for the winter.
The animals construct extensive burrows of several chambers at the bottom of a downward sloping entry tunnel, which is about 3 ft (1 m) long. The chambers, used for hoarding food and for nesting, are below the frost line. While chipmunks are not true hibernators, they tend to remain in their underground chambers during the winter months. In the early spring they emerge from the burrows and mating occurs. After a gestation period of 5 weeks six or more young are born, blind and helpless. See also Rodentia.
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A terrestrial rodent similar to a squirrel but lacking the bushy tail, silky coat and tufted ears. Has longitudinal stripes along its back. Called also Eutamius spp. and Tamias striatus.
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| Chipmunks Fossil range: Early Miocene to Recent |
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|---|---|
| Tamias minimus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Tribe: | Marmotini |
| Genus: | Tamias Illiger, 1811 |
| Species | |
Chipmunks are small squirrel-like rodents of the genus Tamias. They are native to North America and Asia.
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Tamias is Greek for "storer," a reference to the animals' habit of collecting and storing food for winter use.[1] The genus includes twenty-five recognized species,[2] with one species in northeastern Asia, one in eastern North America, and the rest native to western North America.
Some authors have recently suggested that Tamias should be subdivided into three genera, corresponding to currently recognized subgenera Tamias, Eutamias, and Neotamias.[3] This usage, however, has not been widely adopted.
The common 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", "chippers", "munks", "timber tigers", or "ground squirrels", though the name "ground squirrel" usually refers to members of the genus Spermophilus. Tamias and Spermophilus are only two of the 13 genera of ground-living sciurids.
Eastern chipmunks mate in early spring and again in early summer, producing litters of four or five young twice each year.[4] 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.[5] Chipmunks have an omnivorous diet consisting of grain, nuts, birds' eggs, small frogs, fungi, worms, and insects.[4] 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 mammals 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.[6]
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.[citation needed]
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.
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Chipmunk inside Zion National Park |
Chipmunk in the Capitol Reef National Park, USA (39 sec.) |
Chipmunks sold as pets at a bazaar in Linxia City, China |
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| Translations: Chipmunk |
Nederlands (Dutch)
aardeekhoorn
Français (French)
n. - tamia, écureuil, écureuil rayé
Deutsch (German)
n. - Backenhörnchen
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ζωολ.) ευταμίας, σκιουράκι
Português (Portuguese)
n. - tâmia (f) (Zool.)
Español (Spanish)
n. - ardilla listada
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - jordekorre
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
花栗鼠
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 花栗鼠
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) سنجاب
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - סנאי מפוספס
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| chipping squirrel | |
| tamias | |
| striped squirrel |
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
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