The eastern chipmunk (''Tamias striatus'') is a chipmunk species found in eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It is the only living member of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Tamias''.

Etymology

The name "chipmunk" probably comes from the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

word (or possibly ''ajidamoonh'', the same word in the Ottawa dialect of Ojibwe), which translates literally as "one who descends trees headlong." First described by Mark Catesby in his 1743 ''The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands'', the chipmunk was eventually classified as ''Sciurus striatus'' by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, meaning "striped squirrel" in Latin. The scientific name was changed to ''Tamias striatus'', meaning "striped steward", by Johann Illiger in 1811.Wishner page 113

Description

A small species, it reaches about in length including the tail, and a weight of . It has reddish-brown fur on its upper body and five dark brown stripes contrasting with light brown stripes along its back, ending in a dark tail. It has lighter fur on the lower part of its body. It has a tawny stripe that runs from its whiskers to below its ears, and light stripes over its eyes. It has two fewer teeth than other chipmunks and four toes each on the front legs, but five toes on the hind legs.Eastern Chipmunk
, West Virginia Wildlife Series The chipmunk's appearance "remains consistent throughout life. There is no external difference in appearance between the sexes except the obvious anatomical characteristics of the genitalia during periods of fertility. Molt occurs once or twice annually, during May or June and sometimes again in October. Both

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

and melanistic specimens have been observed, but without geographical regularity."

Habitat

The eastern chipmunk lives in

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

wooded areas and urban parks throughout the eastern United States and southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It prefers locations with rocky areas, brush or log piles, and shrubs to provide cover.

Behavior

The eastern chipmunk can climb trees well, but constructs underground nests with extensive tunnel systems, often with several entrances. To hide the construction of its burrow, the eastern chipmunk is argued by some to carry soil to a different location in its cheek pouches. However, recorded observations of chipmunks carrying soil in their cheek pouches are extremely limited. John Burroughs is noted as having written that "I used to think that the chipmunk carried away the soil in his cheek pouches, and have so-stated in one of my books 'Riverby'', 1894 but I am now certain that he does not—only his food stores are thus carried." Chipmunks also line their burrows with leaves, rocks, sticks, and other material, making the burrows even harder to see. "The vocal repertoire of the chipmunk consists of five more or less stereotyped sounds: the chip, the chuck, the trills, the whistle or squeal, and chatter." The chipmunks' trilling has been measured to occur at the rate of 130 trills per minute.

Diet

The chipmunk is mainly active during the day, spending most of its day foraging. It prefers bulbs, seeds, fruits, nuts, green plants, mushrooms, insects, worms, and bird eggs. It commonly transports food in pouches in its cheeks.

Lifecycle

The eastern chipmunk defends its burrow and lives a solitary life, except during mating season. In fact, the chipmunk's solitary existence has been noted by author and scientist Lawrence Wishner as "one of the most characteristic behavioral features of the chipmunk". Members of the species interact with each other only while courting and mating, and for the period that pups spend with their mothers after birth, typically around six to eight weeks. Females usually produce one or two litters of three to five young. The two breeding seasons are from February to April and from June to August. During the winter, the chipmunk may enter long periods of hibernation. Predators of the eastern chipmunk include hawks, owls, foxes,

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s, weasels, coyotes,

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

s, lynx,

domestic dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers ...

s and

domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small Domestication, domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have sh ...

s. On average, eastern chipmunks live three or more years in the wild, but in captivity they may live as long as eight years. Eastern chipmunks are known to be one of many hosts for the parasitic larvae of '' Cuterebra'' botflies.

Gallery

References

Bibliography

* Wishner, Lawrence. ''Eastern Chipmunks: Secrets of Their Solitary Lives'', United States of America, 1982. * Long, John L. ''Introduced Mammals of the World: Their History, Distribution and Influence'', 2003.

External links

* * *
Eastern Chipmunk
Fletcher Wildlife Garden {{Taxonbar, from=Q692664 Tamias Rodents of Canada Rodents of the United States Fauna of the Eastern United States Mammals described in 1758 Articles containing video clips Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus