Chipmunk: Difference between revisions
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Though they are classically depicted with their paws up to the mouth, eating peanuts, or more famously their cheeks bulging out on either side, chipmunks eat a much more diverse range of foods than just nuts. |
Though they are classically depicted with their paws up to the mouth, eating peanuts, or more famously their cheeks bulging out on either side, chipmunks eat a much more diverse range of foods than just nuts. |
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Their [[omnivore|omnivorious]] diet consists of grain, nuts, birds' eggs, and insects. |
Their [[omnivore|omnivorious]] diet consists of grain, nuts, birds' eggs, and insects. |
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Come autumn, it begins to stockpile these goods in its burrow, for [[winter]]. It lives in its nest until [[spring]] |
Come autumn, it begins to stockpile these goods in its burrow, for [[winter]]. It lives in its nest until [[spring]]. |
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[[image:leastchipmunk.jpg|Least Chipmunk, ''Tamias minimus'']]. |
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Species of chipmunk include: |
Species of chipmunk include: |
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Revision as of 06:19, 2 November 2003
The chipmunk is a general name for any small squirrel-like rodent species of the genus Tamias in the family Sciuridae.
About twenty-five species fall under this title, native to Europe, Asia and North America. The common species of the United States is the Eastern chipmunk Tamias striatus.
The name stems from the loud chip sound that they make, in addition to a rapid trill sound. They are also called the striped squirrel or ground squirrel. However, the name "ground squirrel" is more usually for the genus Spermophilus - though Tamias and Spermophilus are only two of the 13 genera of ground-living sciurids.
Though they are classically depicted with their paws up to the mouth, eating peanuts, or more famously their cheeks bulging out on either side, chipmunks eat a much more diverse range of foods than just nuts. Their omnivorious diet consists of grain, nuts, birds' eggs, and insects. Come autumn, it begins to stockpile these goods in its burrow, for winter. It lives in its nest until spring.
Least Chipmunk, Tamias minimus.
Species of chipmunk include:
- Tamias alpinus (Alpine chipmunk)
- T. amoenus (Yellow pine chipmunk)
- T. canipes (Gray-footed chipmunk)
- T. cinereicollis (Gray-Collared Chipmunk)
- T. dorsalis (Cliff chipmunk)
- T. merriami (Merriam's chipmunk)
- T. minimus (Least Chipmunk)
- T. obscurus (California chipmunk)
- T. ohrogenys (Yellow-cheeked chipmunk)
- T. palmeri (Palmer's chipmunk)
- T. panamintinus (Panamint chipmunk)
- T. quadrimaculatus (Long-eared chipmunk)
- T. quadrivittatus (Colorado chipmunk)
- T. ruficaudatus (Red-Tailed Chipmunk)
- T. rufus (Hopi chipmunk)
- T. senex (Allen's chipmunk)
- T. sibiricus (Siberian Chipmunk)
- T. siskiyou (Siskiyou chipmunk)
- T. sonomae (Sonoma Chipmunk)
- T. speciosus (Lodgepole chipmunk)
- T. striatus (Eastern Chipmunk)
- T. townsendii (Townsend's chipmunk)
- T. umbrinus (Uinta chipmunk)
Pop Culture References
In the 1950s a record of a sped-up Christmas song was released. The result was high-pitched cartoony voices, released as The Chipmunk Song, which went on to win multiple Grammys. This sparked a cartoon show Alvin and the Chipmunks. The characters substaintially regained popularity in the early to mid-1990s, with a new TV series and many direct-to-video movie releases.
In Disney's animated movie The Emperor's New Groove, character Krunk regularly converses with chipmunks, in their language of squeaks.