Least Chipmunk (Mammals of the Kaibab National Forest)

Least Chipmunk

Tamias minimus

Summary ⁷

The least chipmunk (Tamias minimus) is the smallest chipmunk in North America. It is also the most widespread species of chipmunk in North America occurring across north-central and western United States and from British Columbia and southern Yukon to western Quebec in Canada. The species is found in a variety of habitats including mixed deciduous and coniferous forests, boreal forest, and sagebrush plains.

Description ⁸

The least chipmunk is the smallest and most widely distributed North American chipmunk. It occurs in a variety of habitats, from coniferous forests to meadows to sagebrush desert, feeding primarily on seeds but also eating flowers, buds, leaves, grasses, fungi, and even insects, eggs, and carrion. Least chipmunks are diurnal, like all ground-dwelling members of squirrel family. They retreat to their burrows at night and spend the winter underground, periodically waking up to feed on stored food. They scatter-hoard, storing seeds all over the place, so they unwittingly help many species of plants sprout in new places.

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Mammal Species of the World