As the temperatures warm due to global warming, they may no longer hibernate.Having surgery to extract your wisdom teeth is often a necessary procedure, and many people who have had these teeth removed have experienced chipmunk cheeks. The BBC has a recording of a chipmunk's sound.Īccording to New Hampshire Public Television, the name "chipmunk" comes from the "chip-chip" sound the creature makes.Ĭhipmunks require colder temperatures to hibernate. The three calls are called the chip, the deeper chuck and the startle call. There are three recognized chipmunk calls, according to the NWF. Other factsĬhipmunks make various sounds to communicate. The Buller's chipmunk is only found in Sierra Madre in south Durango, west Zacatecas and north Jalisco, Mexico. This classification is due to population decline and distribution fragmenting. The Buller's chipmunk, Tamias (Neotamias) bulleri, is the only species listed as vulnerable. Their population decline is due mostly to the invasion of humans in their habitat and domestic cats killing chipmunks in large numbers. The Palmer's chipmunk, Tamias (Neotamias) palmeri, is found only on one small mountain range, the Spring Mountains in southwestern Nevada. Some studies have suggested that these should be separate genera.Īccording to the IUCN's Red List, only one chipmunk species is endangered. Subgenera: Tamias (Eastern chipmunk) Eutamias (Siberian chipmunk, with nine subspecies) Neotamias, (Western chipmunks, with 23 subspecies).ClassificationĪccording to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), the taxonomy of the chipmunk is: Then, they build their own home and start gathering food to last them throughout the coming winter. Pups only stay with their parents for around two months. The protection doesn't last for long, though. Mothers are very protective of their young and if one goes missing, she will search frantically for it, according to the Wildlife Hotline. Pups are hairless, blind, pink creatures the size of a jelly bean. A group of pups that are born to the same mother, at the same time, is called a litter. Female chipmunks usually give birth to two to eight young at one time and give birth one to two times per year, once in the late spring and sometimes again in the fall. Like other rodents, chipmunks have live births after carrying their young for a gestation period of around 30 days, according to National Geographic. Chipmunks also eat other creatures such as insects, baby birds, frogs and bird eggs, according to the Wildlife Hotline. Part of their diet consists of vegetation such as mushrooms, berries, nuts, seeds and grains. DietĬhipmunks are omnivores, and they aren't picky about what they eat. Their heart rates can drop from 350 beats per minute to around 4 beats per minute, and their body temperature can drop from 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius) to as cold as 40 F (4.44 C), according to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). During the winter, they eat from their food cache for energy.ĭuring hibernation, chipmunks can seem like they are dead. When they have a full load, they carry the food to their home and store it. They can stretch to be three times larger than the chipmunk's head, according to Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. During the warm months, chipmunks will stuff extra food into their cheek pouches. A single chipmunk can gather up to 165 acorns in a day, according to National Geographic Kids (opens in new tab).Ĭhipmunks hibernate, but they don't store fat to see them through long winters like bears do. Chipmunks spend most of their days foraging. They like to keep to themselves and only interact during mating season, which is in the spring. Though you may see chipmunks around each other, they are not social animals.
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