Eastern chipmunk

The name "chipmunk" probably comes from the Ojibwe word {{lang|oj|ᐊᒋᑕᒨ}} {{Transliteration|oj|ajidamoo}} (or possibly ajidamoonh, the same word in the Ottawa dialect of Ojibwe), which translates literally as "one who descends trees headlong."[http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=chipmunk Chipmunk], Online Etymology Dictionary 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, meaning "striped squirrel" in Latin.{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=A Latin Dictionary |first1=Charlton T. |last1=Lewis |first2=Charles |last2=Short |title=Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, scĭūrus |date=1879 |publisher=Clarendon Press |entry=sciurus |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dsciurus |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211027020604/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry%3Dsciurus |archive-date=2021-10-27 }}{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=A Latin Dictionary |first1=Charlton T. |last1=Lewis |first2=Charles |last2=Short |title=Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, S , strēnŭē , strĭo |date=1879 |publisher=Clarendon Press |entry=strio |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D70%3Aentry%3Dstrio1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027020623/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D70%3Aentry%3Dstrio1 |archive-date=2021-10-27 }} The scientific name was changed to Tamias striatus, meaning "striped steward", by Johann Illiger in 1811.Wishner page 113

A small species, it reaches about {{convert|30|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length including the tail, and a weight of {{convert|66|–|150|g|oz|abbr=on}}.{{Cite web |url=http://www.arkive.org/eastern-chipmunk/tamias-striatus/ |title=Eastern chipmunk videos, photos and facts – Tamias striatus – ARKive |access-date=26 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203033832/http://www.arkive.org/eastern-chipmunk/tamias-striatus/ |archive-date=3 December 2013 |url-status=dead }} 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.[http://www.cherokeehawk.com/pdfs/EastChipmunk18.pdf Eastern Chipmunk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708142042/http://www.cherokeehawk.com/pdfs/EastChipmunk18.pdf |date=8 July 2011 }}, 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 and melanistic specimens have been observed, but without geographical regularity."

The eastern chipmunk lives in deciduous wooded areas and urban parks throughout the eastern United States and southern Canada. It prefers locations with rocky areas, brush or log piles, and shrubs to provide cover.{{Cite book |last=Long |first=John L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YC3cYhGMOcC&pg=PA134 |title=Introduced Mammals of the World: Their History, Distribution and Influence |date=2003-08-14 |publisher=Csiro Publishing |isbn=978-0-643-09916-6 |language=en}}

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.{{cite web|website=Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management| url=http://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/ro_b13.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829175305/http://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/ro_b13.pdf |title=Chipmunks |page=B-14 |archive-date= 29 August 2018}} 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."Wishner page 100 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."Wishner page 117 The chipmunks' trilling has been measured to occur at the rate of 130 trills per minute.

File:Chipmunk Eating .jpg]]

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.

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.Wishner page 116-117 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.{{cite web|url=http://spark.mcgill.ca/ianchips.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305020842/http://spark.mcgill.ca/ianchips.htm |title=The mother of all hangovers|author=Ian Popple |date=26 April 2012 |archive-date= 5 March 2016}}

Predators of the eastern chipmunk include hawks, owls, foxes, raccoons, snakes, weasels, coyotes, bobcats, lynx, domestic dogs and domestic cats. 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.{{cite journal |last1=Paquette |first1= Chelsey|last2= Garant |first2= Dany|last3= Savage|first3=Jade|last4=Réale|first4= Denis| last5=Bergeron| first5=Patrick|date= May 2020|title= Individual and environmental determinants of Cuterebra bot fly parasitism in the eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus)

|url= https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-020-04685-x|journal=Oecologia |volume= 193|issue= 2|pages=359–370 |doi= 10.1007/s00442-020-04685-x|pmid= 32566968|bibcode= 2020Oecol.193..359P|s2cid= 219958543|url-access= subscription}}

{{gallery|mode=packed|align=center|width=135|height=135

|File:Quagmire_Chipmunk.png|Eastern chipmunk with full cheek pouches, in Kennebunk, ME.

|File:Tamias striatus CT.jpg|Eastern chipmunk with filled cheek pouches, Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Quebec, Canada

|File:Tamias striatus.ogv|Calling (video)

|Eastern_Chipmunk_(Tamias_striatus)_-_Guelph_04.jpg|Looking to the right

|Eastern_Chipmunk_(Tamias_striatus)_-_Guelph_02.jpg|Descending headlong

|File:Chipmunk burrow.jpg|Peeking out of burrow

|File:An irresistable pose (508121860).jpg|In Guelph, Ontario, Canada

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{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite journal|title=Paleoenvironmental Implications of the Quaternary Distribution of the Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) in Central Texas|last=Graham|first=Russell W.|orig-date=7 March 1983|year=1984|journal=Quaternary Research|volume=21|issue=1 |pages=111–114|doi=10.1016/0033-5894(84)90094-2|bibcode=1984QuRes..21..111G }}

{{cite web|title=Tamias striatus |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.105245/Tamias_striatus|website=NatureServe Explorer|access-date=17 April 2024}}

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• Wishner, Lawrence. Eastern Chipmunks: Secrets of Their Solitary Lives, United States of America, 1982. {{isbn|978-0874749625}}
• Long, John L. Introduced Mammals of the World: Their History, Distribution and Influence, 2003. {{isbn|978-0-643-09916-6}}

• [https://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-168-01-0001.pdf Mammalian Species 168 pp. 1–8, 25 May 1982]

• {{Commons category-inline|Tamias striatus|Tamias striatus}}
• {{Wikispecies-inline|Tamias striatus|Tamias striatus}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|last=Earthwatch|title=Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus |url=http://fieldguides.eol.org/fguides/fieldguide-view.php?guidekey=156&eol_id=311526&sci_flag=0|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Life Field Guides|access-date=7 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101212052/http://fieldguides.eol.org/fguides/fieldguide-view.php?guidekey=156&eol_id=311526&sci_flag=0|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=dead}}
• [https://ofnc.ca/programs/fletcher-wildlife-garden/flora-and-fauna-at-the-fwg/chipmunks-at-the-fwg Eastern Chipmunk], Fletcher Wildlife Garden

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Category:Tamias

Category:Rodents of Canada

Category:Rodents of the United States

Category:Fauna of the Eastern United States

Category:Mammals described in 1758

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus