wrose's Identifications

Scientific & Common Name
The Eastern Chipmunk, known for it’s reddish-brown fur and five white and black dorsal stripes, is scientifically referred to as Tamias Striatus (Linzey, 2008).

Habitat & Geographic Range
The Eastern Chipmunk is found to be dispersed throughout the eastern United States and Southeastern Canada. They typically inhabit forest biomes, making their homes in burrows under ground. It is supposed that their most ideal habitat is a mature beech-maple forest, but they will inhabit any forest biome, avoiding swamp areas (Linzey, 2008). Their burrow is typically one meter below the ground and contains many rooms for food storage. Breeding males have the largest home range, and Eastern Chipmunks are known to be defensive of their home ranges, which are generally the largest in early summer and early fall (Kroll, 2013).

Size, Weight, & Lifespan
Eastern Chipmunks consist of a mass ranging from 66-115 grams, with a length ranging from 255-266 millimeters. In the wild, there are accounts of Eastern Chipmunks living from 2-8 years old, but most don’t survive to be two years old (Kroll, 2013).

Diet
The Eastern Chipmunk has generally been labelled as an herbivore. However, several studies note their omnivorous tendency to occasionally hunt and ingest small animals. A very small quantity of animal matter, seeds, fruit, vegetation, and nuts make up the Eastern Chipmunk’s diet. It is also widely known that this species relies heavily on what is foraged during autumn in preparation for hibernation for their sustenance (Wrazen & Svendsen, 1978).

Reproduction & Communication
According to a field study conducted by McGill University’s Department of Biology in Southern Quebec, Eastern Chipmunks communicate using three different calls: Chipping, Chucking, and Trills. The results concluded that Chipping, a call delivered using a series of notes repeated in bouts of a few seconds to many minutes, is vocalized by both sexes when a nearby animal is perceived as a predator. It was found that the chipping rate is correlated negatively with distance between chipmunk and its burrow. Chucking, also delivered by both sexes, was observed when a stimulus animal was present but non-threatening. Researchers concluded that chucking was primarily territorial. Trills, a low amplitude multi-note call that is given once, differ greatly from chipping and chucking. Trills were only emitted when the Eastern Chipmunk was fleeing another organism (Burke da Silva, Kramer, & Weary, 1994). In terms of reproduction, Chipmunks are polygamous and typically mate in the spring, sometimes as early as February, and again in the late summer. Pregnancy was observed to last at least a month, and each pregnant female produced a litter of juveniles. It was noted that if any juveniles died, the mothers did not eat the young, and that Chipmunks are typically loners unless it is mating season (Condrin, 1936).

Predation
Eastern Chipmunks are preyed upon by most diurnal predators in their biome, including domestic dogs and cats. Aerial predators such as hawks are also a big concern for Eastern Chipmunks (Kroll, 2013).

Conservation Status
The IUCN, an organization which determines how threatened a species is based on a number of criterion, has determined that the conservation of the Eastern Chipmunk is ranked at “least concern” (Linzey, 2008).

Did You Know?
Even though Eastern Chipmunks hibernate throughout the winter, they do not survive off of the fat they acquire during the warmer months like most other hibernating animals. Instead they eat from a large food store they have gathered and placed amongst the many chambers of their underground burrows (Rossi, 2015).

References
Burke da Silva, K., Kramer, D.L., Weary, D.M. (1994). Context-specific alarm calls of the eastern chipmunk, Tamias Striatus. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 72(6), 1087-1092. Retrieved from http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z94-146#.WBlMH- ErKb_
Condrin, J. (1936). Observations on the Seasonal and Reproductive Activities of the Eastern Chipmunk. Journal of Mammalogy, 17(3), 231-234. doi:1. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1374419 doi:1
Kroll, M. (2013). "Tamias striatus", Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved from http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tamias_striatus/
Linzey, A.V. & NatureServe (Hammerson, G.). 2008. Tamias striatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T42583A10713654. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T42583A10713654.en
Rossi, F. (2015). Chipmunk, Tamias. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/chipmunk/
Wrazen, J., & Svendsen, G. (1978). Feeding Ecology of a Population of Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias striatus) in Southeast Ohio. The American Midland Naturalist, 100(1), 190-201. doi:1. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2424789 doi:1