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eastern chipmunk

Tamias striatus

Range description 4

This species is widely distributed throughout the eastern United States and adjoining Canada, from southeast Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia, south to western Oklahoma and eastern Louisiana (in the west) and to coastal Virginia (in the east). It is absent from peninsular Florida and the coastal plain between Florida and northern North Carolina. It is introduced to Newfoundland.

Habitat and ecology 5

Habitat and Ecology

It prefers deciduous woodlands with ample cover, such as brush piles or logs, rocky forested slopes, ravines. Also found in brushlands and hedgerows. Commonly climbs trees and shrubs. Burrows often open at edge or rock, near base of tree, or under the edge of a building. Nest is generally constructed below ground in an extensive burrow system.

Breeding period is from mid-March to early April. A second breeding period occurs from mid-July to mid-August involving young of the previous year. Gestation lasts 31 days. Litter size is 4-15 (3-5 most often). One to two litters per year. Commonly lives 2-3 years, sometimes 5-6 years.

Home range is less than one hectare, typically 0.08-0.60 ha, largest in early summer and early fall; core area of home range is defended against conspecific neighbours; largest home ranges are those of breeding males; low water availability may result in increased home range size. Individuals may make long movements outside their usual range; non dispersing individuals have lifetime home range lengths of up to at least 0.5 km, and dispersal movements may extend to at least 0.9 km (Roberts 1976).

This species utilizes a wide variety of seeds, fruits, and nuts, some mushrooms and insects. Active during the day. In winter, becomes torpid, with frequent arousals.

Systems
  • Terrestrial

Ecology 6

Depending on the season, densities may vary from less than 1 to 15 per acre (Yerger 1953), sometimes up to 30 per acre. In Virginia, populations were highest in the year following a large mast crop (Wolff 1996, J. Mamm. 77:850-856).

Behaviour 7

Eastern chipmunks are extremely vocal and produce a variety of chips, trills and calls to alert others to the presence of predators or for territory defense. Territorial calls lead to aggressive behavior when another individual is present. High intense chases establish hierarchies among groups of males competing for access to females, individuals display aggressive and submissive postures during these behaviors. Sniffing hindquarters and touching noses provides chemical signals during these interactions. Alarm calls can be costly and the benefits must outweigh the costs to justify such behavior. Eastern chipmunks give three distinct calls: chipping, chucking and trilling. Chipping and chucking are repeated calls lasting up to thirty minutes. Trills are shorter in duration and are given during pursuit by a predator. The other calls are typically given when a predator is spotted.

Eastern chipmunks react to alarm calls by altering their foraging behavior and becoming more alert. After an alarm call, they expend greater energy and spend more time exposed at feeding stations because they decrease the amount of food carried to caches after hearing the call. Eastern chipmunks increase vigilance, run shorter more direct distances and delay emergence from burrows after hearing an alarm call, which suggest that the calls directly affected behavior. Trill vocalizations are complicated and more difficult to understand than the other two types of calls. Adult females are most likely to trill when close (10 m from the burrow) to relatives. Females do not disperse as far as males and have more relatives living close to their burrows. Juvenile females trill at a lower rate than adults, this may indicate their higher predation risk or smaller fitness gain. Males trill farther from the burrow, 100 m or greater. This could be because males are uncertain of kinship and trilling would put an individual at higher risk.  Trilling occurs in all active seasons, not just during juvenile emergence, which discounts the hypothesis that trilling is a mechanism of parental care. The primary function of trill calls is likely to warn nearby relatives of predators. This increases an individual’s overall fitness by helping related individuals.

Communication Channels: acoustic ; chemical

Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Gilles Gonthier, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/gillesgonthier/8151916246/
  2. (c) Nicholas A. Tonelli, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/4655624112/
  3. (c) Gilles Gonthier, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/gillesgonthier/7563480346/
  4. (c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34748543
  5. (c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/34748545
  6. (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/28916119
  7. (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31426092

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(c) Discover Life and original sources, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC-SA)

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