Striped Rascals - the Life and Times of Chipmunks

Welcome to another installment of Kings Park Focus on Nature.
While I write this blog at the tail end of Summer, the temperatures have risen to the warmest they’ve been all season. It’s hard to imagine that Fall is fast approaching, and hard on its heels will be Winter.
Despite the heat, some of Mother Nature’s creatures are making preparations for the coming time of cold and scarcity. Among the most industrious is the Eastern Chipmunk. These active mammals are so common in our area that we tend to take them for granted. But they are interesting creatures, so let’s take a look at their lifestyles.
The Eastern Chipmunk, Tamius striatus is a diminutive member of the rodent family. Adults reach about eight to ten inches in length, including the tail. The fur of the upper part of the Chipmunk is a rusty brown color, while the underparts are covered with a cream colored fur. Two whites stripes bordered with black decorate the back of Tamius striatus, and are its most recognizable feature.
This forest creature inhabits the eastern woodlands of the United States, and south eastern Canada.
While Chipmunks can climb very well, they prefer to dwell on the ground. They make their homes in burrows, the entrances of which are often well hidden. Some Chipmunks do not fear the proximity of humans though, and are quite comfortable excavating their homes under porches and alongside foundations. One room of the burrow will be lined with leaves as bedding. The other rooms are used as food storage. Nuts such as acorns, hickory, and beech are especially preferred as food, particularly for long term storage. However also included in this rodent’s diet are berries, fungi, and insects. Tamius striatus is well known for possessing “Chipmunk cheeks” The lining of the animals cheeks is extremely flexible, allowing them to be used as “shopping bags” when the Chipmunk is foraging. Food intended for storage is brought to a cavity in the burrow in this manner. Rival chipmunks are notorious thieves and readily raid each other’s storage caches. This often leads to some wild woodland chases as interlopers are driven from one another’s territory after an attempt at theft!
The food caches in the animals burrow can contain as much as 8 pounds of food! The Eastern Chipmunk will rely on these nuts to sustain itself through the winter, so it’s easy to understand how highly motivated they are to defend their underground pantry. Chipmunks alternate between periods of deep sleep and wakefulness in the cold months. This is not considered true hibernation (complete dormancy), and these diminutive mammals need to snack periodically until they emerge in spring. In our area this is usually around March, depending on conditions.
These are solitary animals for the most part, coming together only to mate or compete for food. Breeding, like food gathering is quite competitive! Several males will pursue and strive to mate with each female. Courtship takes place during early spring and again in summer, so females may have as many as two litters of inch long hairless, helpless young. These take about a month to achieve independence from the mother.
Chipmunks can be hard to spot in the wild, as they are wary of predators such as foxes, hawks, snakes, and domestic cats. They can be heard easily though, and their sharp sounding territorial “chirps” are commonly part of the backdrop of sounds you may experience during a walk in the woods. These vocalizations are often mistaken for those of birds. Chipmunks near human habitations will often become accustomed to people; will become tame enough to accept handouts of peanuts and the like.
Next time you’re hiking in the woods, listen for the loud “chirp chirp chirp!” of the Eastern Chipmunk. You may be treated to a view of this lively little wood land mammal engaged in its entertaining daily antics.
See you on the trails!