Cliff Chipmunk
Tamias dorsalis
Summary 3
Tamias dorsalis is a small chipmunk that is gray with dark stripes, as shown above, on its back and light brown flanks. It is very similar looking to many other chipmunk species but it lacks the defined white stripe they have on their back. They only weigh a few ounces and the females are larger than the males. They are found near cliffs and make their dens in rocky outcroppings. They stay near their dens in the winter but during the summer they will spend their days away from them searching for food. They can be found in Iron County.
Description 4
The cliff chipmunk (Tamias dorsalis) is a small, bushy-tailed squirrel that typically lives along cliff walls or boulder fields bordering Pinyon-juniper woodlands in the Western United States and Mexico. Cliff chipmunks are very agile, and can often be seen scaling steep cliff walls. Cliff chipmunks do not amass body fat as the more common ground squirrel does. They create a "stash" of food which they frequent during the cold winter months.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Anita, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/61897811@N00/3443811796
- (c) sarahnika, all rights reserved
- (c) sarahnika, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
- Adapted by sarahnika from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamias_dorsalis
