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Chipmunks are small rodents of the squirrel family, and are often called ground squirrels. They live throughout the world, but are common in the eastern regions of the United States and Canada. With distinctive body stripping, small stature and cute facial features, chipmunks are easily identifiable by their physical characteristics.
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Though smaller than squirrels, chipmunks have similar facial features to their larger rodent cousins. With tiny upright ears, big shiny black eyes and pointy whisker-covered noses, these little rodents have faces that resemble the cartoon and movie characters that have been created in their likeness. Striping around their expressive eyes that includes a pale line around each eye gives definition to their facial features.
Whether gathering nuts and seeds for a tasty meal or to hoard for long winter months, chipmunks have a unique physical characteristic that allows them to easily carry their food sources. Pouches inside of each cheek enable these little foragers to tuck away many morsels with each mouthful. When chipmunks are transporting food in these pouches, they have an adorable, chubby-cheek appearance.
Chipmunks come in a variety of gray, brown and reddish brown shades. However, they are not solid color like their squirrel cousins. In fact, chipmunks are usually buff on their bellies. However, their most recognizable physical traits are their numerous stripes on their faces, sides and backs. These stripes alternate from light to dark shades, giving them contrast that make these tiny critters easily recognizable from other small rodents. Chipmunks also have long tails that are slightly bushy, and often have the characteristic stripes all the way to the tip of their tails.
Chipmunks' tiny size reflects their status as the smallest member of the squirrel family. These little rodents range in length from about 8 inches of the smallest least chipmunk to the 11 inches of the eastern chipmunk. Their total length includes their tails, which are about 3 to 4 inches in length. Even the largest chipmunk rarely weighs more than 5 ounces, but this minute creature can be as small as only 1 ounce in weight.
Chipmunks are small, ground-dwelling members of the squirrel (Sciuridae) family known for their burrowing habits and love of nuts. Despite their size, chipmunks can cause significant damage to homes, yards, and farms. Below, learn important information about chipmunks, including general facts and how to identify chipmunk damage.
General Facts » Geography » Habitat » Diet » Behavior » Identify Damage »- Chipmunk Classification - Genera:
- Tamias (eastern chipmunk - sp. Tamias striatus)
- Neotamias (mostly western chipmunks - 23 existing species)
- Eutamias (Siberian chipmunk - sp. Eutamias sibiricus)
- Average Size: 2-6" long with a 3" tail; less than 1 lb. in weight
- Average Lifespan in the Wild: 2-3 years
- Identifying Features: Shades of brown/yellow/grey fur with white and black stripes down the back
All species of chipmunks are native to North America, except one - the Siberian chipmunk. As indicated by its name, the eastern chipmunk inhabits most of the eastern half of the United States and Canada. Western chipmunks inhabit the western states as well as most of Canada.
The Siberian chipmunk is the only species that is found outside of North America - its range extends throughout northern Asia, from central Russia to Japan.
Chipmunks feel most at home in areas with plenty of ground cover, including logs, trees, stumps, shrubs and rocks. While the ideal habitat for chipmunks is a deciduous forest, woodland or brushland, they’re also comfortable in other areas that provide sufficient cover such as urban parks, fence lines, hedges and houses.
Chipmunks dig extensive burrow systems directly underneath or next to natural or manmade cover. They dig two types of burrows: shallow burrows in which they seek refuge while foraging during the day, and deeper, more complex burrows where they nest, store food and spend most of the winter months. Chipmunks rarely venture further than 1/3 mile from their burrows at any time.
Chipmunks are omnivores, dining on various types of foods that are found mostly on the ground. Their diets are more diverse during the warmer months, during which time they hoard nuts and seeds in their burrows to eat in the winter.
Some favorite foods include:
- Activity: Chipmunks are active in the daytime during spring, summer and fall. Chipmunks remain in their deep burrow systems during the winter, where they enter patterns of torpor (deep sleep and lower body temperature) interrupted by periods of feeding.
- Reproduction: Breeding occurs twice per year - once in the spring and once in the summer - when chipmunks give birth to 4-5 babies at a time.
- Burrowing: Chipmunks dig their own pairs of burrows, excavating as deep as 3 feet underground. Burrows are typically dug directly underneath or next to cover, because a chipmunk always requires protection from predators. Oftentimes chipmunk burrows cause damage when dug next to a home foundation
- Hoarding: To prepare for the winter hibernation period, chipmunks begin to stockpile nuts and seeds in their burrows during late summer and early fall.
- Communication: Chipmunks are protective of their burrows and use a range of loud chirps as well as body language to express occupied territory, dominance, or warn their young of danger. Females also have a mating call for which they use their high-pitched, bird-like vocalizations.
Though chipmunks are small, they can be quite destructive - especially when burrowing near a home's foundation.
Here are some signs of chipmunk damage:
- structural or foundational damage from chipmunk burrows
- holes in lawn or garden from digging for plant roots
- seed piles underneath bird feeders
- uprooted bulbs
- chipmunk tracks: tiny prints with four toes in the front and five in the back (front and hind feet are generally reversed)
- One tiny chipmunk can gather up to 165 acorns in one day.
- Chipmunks have pouches inside of their cheeks in which they store food when foraging.
- The main entrance of a chipmunk burrow can extend up to 20 feet in length.
- A group of chipmunks is called a scurry.
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