Chipmunks Fossil range: Early Miocene to Recent
Tamias rufus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Sciuridae Tribe: Marmotini Genus: Tamias Illiger, 1811
Species
25 species

Chipmunk is the common name for any small squirrel-like rodent species of the genus Tamias in the family Sciuridae. The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene period and extends from about 23 The Hopi chipmunk ( Tamias rufus or Neotamias rufus) is a small Chipmunk found in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico in the Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands Rodentia is an order of Mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously-growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must The Sciurids or Squirrels are a large family of Rodents. The word Sciuridae means "shade-tail" and refers to the bushy appendage possessed The ground squirrels are the members of the Sciuridae most closely related to the Genus Marmota. Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger ( November 19, 1775 - May 1813 was a German Entomologist and Zoologist. Chipmunk is the common name for any small Squirrel -like Rodent species of the genus Tamias in the family Sciuridae. A squirrel is one of the many small or medium-sized Rodents in the family Sciuridae. Rodentia is an order of Mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously-growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must The Sciurids or Squirrels are a large family of Rodents. The word Sciuridae means "shade-tail" and refers to the bushy appendage possessed Around 25 species fall under this name, mainly in North America, although one species is native to Eurasia. For the superstate in George Orwell 's novel see Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Etymology and taxonomy

Tamias is Latin for "storer," a reference to the animals' habit of collecting and storing food for winter use. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. ^[1] Twenty-five species belong to this family,^[2] with one species in northeastern Asia, one in eastern North America, and the rest native to western North America.

The name originally may have been spelled "chitmunk" (from the Odawa word jidmoonh, meaning "red squirrel"; c. f. Ojibwe, ajidamoo). However, the earliest form cited in the Oxford English Dictionary (from 1842) is "chipmonk". Other early forms include "chipmuck" and "chipminck", and in the 1830s they were also referred to as "chip squirrels," possibly in reference to the sound they make. They are also called "striped squirrels" or "ground squirrels," though the name "ground squirrel" more often refers to the genus Spermophilus. The genus Spermophilus is the largest genus of ground squirrels and the one that contains the species that are most common and familiar in North America. Tamias and Spermophilus are only two of the 13 genera of ground-living sciurids. A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic The Sciurids or Squirrels are a large family of Rodents. The word Sciuridae means "shade-tail" and refers to the bushy appendage possessed

Ecology and life history

Eastern chipmunks mate in early spring and again in early summer, producing litters of four or five young twice each year. Western chipmunks only breed once a year. The young emerge from the burrow after about six weeks and strike out on their own within the next two weeks.

A chipmunk in relation to a human hand

Though they are commonly depicted with their paws up to the mouth, eating peanuts, or more famously their cheeks bulging out on either side, chipmunks eat a variety of foods. Their omnivorous diet consists of grain, nuts, birds' eggs, fungi, worms, and insects. Omnivores (from Latin omne all everything vorare to devour are species that eat both Plants and Animals as their primary At the beginning of autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile these goods in their burrows, for winter. Winter is one of the four Seasons of Temperate zones Calculated astronomically, it begins on the Solstice and ends on the Equinox Other species make multiple small caches of food. These two kinds of behavior are called larder hoarding and scatter hoarding. Larder hoarders usually live in their nests until spring. Spring is one of the four Temperate Seasons Spring marks the transition from Winter into Summer.

Chipmunk photographed in Deschutes National Forest, Oregon

These small squirrels fulfill several important functions in forest ecosystems. The Deschutes National Forest is a United States National Forest located in parts of Deschutes, Klamath, Lake, and Jefferson Oregon ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. A forest is an area with a high density of Trees There are many definitions of a forest based on various criteria An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( Their activities harvesting and hoarding tree seeds play a crucial role in seedling establishment. A seedling is a young plant Sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a Seed. They consume many different kinds of fungi, including those involved in symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with trees, and are an important vector for dispersal of the spores of subterranean sporocarps (truffles) which have co-evolved with these and other mycophagous mammals and thus lost the ability to disperse their spores through the air. A fungus (ˈfʌŋgəs is a eukaryotic Organism that is a member of the kingdom Fungi (ˈfʌndʒaɪ A mycorrhiza (Greek for fungus roots coined by Frank 1885 typically seen in the plural forms mycorrhizae or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic (occasionally The sporocarp of a Basidiomycete is known as a Basidiocarp, while the fruiting body of an Ascomycete is known as an Ascocarp.

Chipmunks play an important role as prey for various predatory mammals and birds, but are also opportunistic predators themselves, particularly with regard to bird eggs and nestlings. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. In Oregon, Mountain Bluebirds (Siala currucoides) have been observed energetically mobbing chipmunks that they see near their nest trees. Oregon ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Mountain Bluebird ( Sialia currucoides) is a medium-sized bird weighing about an ounce with a length from 15-20 cm (6-8 in)

Chipmunks construct expansive burrows which can be more than 3. A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an Animal to create a space suitable for habitation temporary refuge or as a byproduct of locomotion 5 m in length with several well-concealed entrances. The sleeping quarters are kept extremely clean as shells and feces are stored in refuse tunnels.

If unmolested they often become bold enough to take food from the hands of humans. The temptation to pick up or pet any wild animal should be strictly avoided, however. While rabies is exceptionally rare (if not non-existent) in rodents, chipmunk bites can transmit virulent and dangerous bacterial infections. Rabies (from rabies “madness rage fury” Also known as “ hydrophobia ” is a viral Zoonotic neuroinvasive disease that A bite is a Wound received from the Mouth (and in particular the Teeth) of an Animal or human Chipmunks also may attract birds and other predators.

Species

References

• Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm (1995). A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

External links

• Etymology Online: Chipmunk
• Wildlife and Nature - Chipmunk