📷 Cephas · CC BY-SA 4.0
📷 Cephas
📷 Rhododendrites
IUCN: Least Concern
Eastern Chipmunk
Tamias striatus
KingdomAnimalia›PhylumChordata›ClassMammalia›OrderRodentia›FamilySciuridae›GenusTamias
About
Eastern chipmunks are small striped squirrels with expandable cheek pouches that can hold a remarkable amount of food — enough to carry several acorns at once back to an underground burrow. Their tunnels have separate chambers for sleeping, storing food, and even a latrine, and a single chipmunk can move hundreds of seeds in a busy autumn afternoon. Unharvested nuts, forgotten in forgotten corners of the burrow system, go on to sprout into new trees, making chipmunks quiet but effective forest planters.
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Deciduous forests, forest edges, shrubby areas, and suburban yards
🍃Diet Nuts, acorns, seeds, berries, fungi, and occasionally insects and small frogs
📏Size & Weight Body 12–17 cm plus 8–11 cm tail
•Weight 70–140 g
⏳Lifespan About 2–3 years in the wild; up to 8 in care
🗺Range Eastern North America, from Canada to the Gulf states
MammalRodent
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Deciduous forests, forest edges, shrubby areas, and suburban yards
🍃Diet Nuts, acorns, seeds, berries, fungi, and occasionally insects and small frogs
📏Size & Weight Body 12–17 cm plus 8–11 cm tail
•Weight 70–140 g
⏳Lifespan About 2–3 years in the wild; up to 8 in care
🗺Range Eastern North America, from Canada to the Gulf states
Photo Credits
#1Cephas · CC BY-SA 4.0
#2Cephas · CC BY-SA 4.0
#3Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0
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