Results for chipmunk
On this page:
 
Dictionary:

chipmunk

  (chĭp'mŭngk') pronunciation
n.

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 ajidamoonʼ, red squirrel.]


 
 

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.


 

Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus).
(click to enlarge)
Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus). (credit: Ken Brate/Photo Researchers)
Any of 17 species of terrestrial rodents in the squirrel family. The eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus), found in eastern North America, is 5.5 – 7.5 in. (14 – 19 cm) long, excluding a bushy, 3 – 4-in. (8 – 10-cm) tail. It is reddish brown with five black stripes alternating with two brown and two white stripes. The other species (all in the genus Eutamia) are found in western North America and central and eastern Asia. They are smaller and have different stripe patterns. Chipmunks are active burrow dwellers that eat primarily seeds, berries, and tender plants. They store seeds underground, carrying them in roomy cheek pockets. Their call is a shrill chirring or chipping sound.

For more information on chipmunk, visit Britannica.com.

 
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.


 

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.

 
Wikipedia: Chipmunk
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.

A chipmunk in relation to a human hand
Enlarge
A chipmunk in relation to a human hand

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.

Chipmunk photographed in Deschutes National Forest, Oregon
Enlarge
Chipmunk photographed in Deschutes National Forest, Oregon

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


References

  1. ^ John O. Whitaker, Jr.; Robert Elman (1980). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals, 2nd edition, New York: Knopf, 370. ISBN 0-394-50762-2. 
  2. ^ Wilson, D. E.; D. M. Reeder (2005). Mammal Species of the World (MSW). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
  • Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm (1995). A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

 
Translations: Translations for: Chipmunk

Dansk (Danish)
n. - jordegern

Nederlands (Dutch)
aardeekhoorn

Français (French)
n. - tamia, écureuil, écureuil rayé

Deutsch (German)
n. - Backenhörnchen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ζωολ.) ευταμίας, σκιουράκι

Italiano (Italian)
scoiattolo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tâmia (f) (Zool.)

Русский (Russian)
бурундук

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

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 얼룩 다람쥐

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - シマリス

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سنجاب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סנאי מפוספס‬


 
 

Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "chipmunk" at WikiAnswers.

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Sci-Tech Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chipmunk" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar!  
Click here to download now. 

Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.

On this page:   E-mail   print Print  Link  

 

Keep Reading

Mentioned In: