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| The Eastern Chipmunk is a social and bold animal, widely know for taking food from the hand. It has a very distinct reddish-brown coat, with white stripes on each side bordered in black, and white cheeks and belly. They are small rodents, only five to seven centimeters long with prominent ears. The Least Chipmunk, rare in the Algonquin Highlands area, is smaller and paler, with its stripes running down to the base of its tail. The Eastern Chipmunk is at home in hardwood forests, eating a variety of seeds, berries, nuts, slugs, snails and even salamanders. Much of the vegetable food they gather is carried in their bulging cheek pouches back to their underground nest and storage chambers. A great deal of time is spent by the Eastern Chipmunk working on their burrows, placing them as much as a metre below the surface. Eastern Chipmunks create different rooms that are designated for different uses, such as food storage and waste. They may be several metres long, with two concealed entrances, and never any signs of digging. Their hard work pays off with the amount of time they spend in their burrows. Raising young, storing food, evading capture, and hibernation all occur in the nest. Although the Eastern Chipmunk does not go into a deep dormancy, they do sleep a lot. It will rise occasionally to eat some its food stores and then go back to sleep. On very mild days in late winter, the Eastern Chipmunk may emerge from its slumber. Mating season is early spring, and one litter is produced per year of three to five young, born in May. Chipmunks are short-lived and rarely live to three years of age. Eastern Chipmunks of both sexes use two catering calls, the first a rapid “chip-chip-chip”, and the second a lower-pitched and slower “chuck…chuck…chuck”. |
(Family Sciuridae)
Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)
Least Chipmunk (Eutamias minimus)
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