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Biography
Other uses|Chipmunk (disambiguation)pp-semi-vandalism|expiry=February 20, 2012|small=yesRefimprove|date=October 2008Taxobox| name = Chipmunks| fossil_range =Early Miocene to Recent| image = Tamias minimus.jpg| image_width =| image_caption = Least chipmunk | regnum = Animal ia| phylum = Chordate|Chordata | classis = Mammal ia| ordo = Rodent ia| subordo = Sciuromorpha | familia = Sciuridae | tribus = Marmotini | subtribus = Tamiina | genus = Tamias | genus_authority = Illiger, 1811| subdivision_ranks = Subgenus|Subgenera | subdivision = 3, see #Classification|text Chipmunks are small striped squirrel s native to North America , with one species, the Siberian chipmunk , found in Asia . They are usually classed either as a single genus with three subgenera , or as three genus|genera .
Etymology and taxonomy
Chipmunks are usually classified either as a single genus, Tamias , or as three genera: Tamias , containing the eastern chipmunk ; Eutamias , containing the Siberian chipmunk ; and Neotamias , containing the 23 remaining, mostly western, species. These classifications are arbitrary, and most taxonomiesCitation needed|date=November 2010 over the twentieth century have placed the chipmunks in a single genus. However, studies of mitochondrial DNA show that each of the three chipmunk groups is about as distinct genetically as genera such as Marmot a and Spermophilus .cite web | url = http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/msw/ | title = Mammal Species of the World (MSW) | accessdate = 2007-06-27 | author = Wilson, D. E. | coauthors = D. M. Reeder | year = 2005 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070623030727/ http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/msw/ |archivedate = 2007-06-23Piaggio, A. J. and Spicer, G. S. 2001. Molecular phylogeny of the chipmunks inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase II gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 20: 335–350.cite journal|journal=Journal of Mammalian Evolution|volume= 7|issue=3|year=2000|title=Molecular Phylogeny of the Chipmunk Genus Tamias Based on the Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit II Gene|first=Antoinette J.|last=Piaggio|first2=Greg S. |last2=SpicerMusser, G. G.; Durden, L. A.; Holden, M. E.; and Light, J. E. (2010) "Systematic review of endemic Sulawesi squirrels (Rodentia, Sciuridae), with descriptions of new species of associated sucking lice (Insecta, Anoplura), and phylogenetic and zoogeographic assessments of sciurid lice." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 339.
Tamias is Greek language|Greek for "storer," a reference to the animals' habit of collecting and storing food for winter use.cite book | author = John O. Whitaker, Jr. | coauthors = Robert Elman | title = The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals | edition = 2nd edition | year = 1980 | publisher= Knopf | location=New York | isbn= 0-394-50762-2 | page= 370
The common name originally may have been spelled "chitmunk" (from the Ottawa language|Odawa word jidmoonh , meaning "red squirrel"; cf. Anishinaabe language#Anishinaabemowin|Ojibwe , ajidamoo ) http://etymonline.com/index.php? term=chipmunk. The earliest form cited in the Oxford English Dictionary (from 1842) is "chipmonk", but "chipmunk" appears in several books from the 1820s and 1830s. http://www.google.com/search? q=%22chipmunk%22& tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min:1800,cd_max:1834& lr=lang_en Google Books Other early forms include "chipmuck" and "chipminck", and in the 1830s they were also referred to as "chip squirrels," possibly in reference to the sound they make. They are also called "striped squirrels", "chippers", "munks", "timber tigers", or "ground squirrels", though the name "ground squirrel" usually refers to other squirrels, such as those of the genus Spermophilus .
Diet
Chipmunks have an omnivore|omnivorous diet consisting of grain, nuts, fruit, berries, birds' eggs, small frogs, fungi, worms, insects and on occasions small mammals like young mice. http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/chipmunk.htm Eastern Chipmunk - Tamias striatus - NatureWorks At the beginning of autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile these goods in their burrows, for winter. Other species make multiple small caches of food. These two kinds of behavior are called Hoarding (animal behaviour)|larder hoarding and scatter hoarding . Larder hoarders usually live in their nests until spring. Cheek pouches allow chipmunks to carry multiple food items to their burrows for either storage or consumption. http://www.wvdnr.gov/Wildlife/Magazine/Archive/04Fall/Eastern_Chipmunk.shtm West Virginia Wildlife Magazine: Wildlife Diversity Notebook. Eastern chipmunk
Ecology and life history
Eastern chipmunks mate in early spring and again in early summer, producing litters of four or five young twice each year.cite book | last = Hazard | first = Evan B. | title = The Mammals of Minnesota | publisher = University of Minnesota Press | year = 1982 | pages = 52–54 | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=sjoQK1bedB0C& pg=PA53& dq=eastern+chipmunk+mate#PPA54,M1 | isbn = 0-8166-0952-7 Western chipmunks breed only once a year. The young emerge from the burrow after about six weeks and strike out on their own within the next two weeks.cite book | last = Schwartz | first = Charles Walsh | coauthors = Elizabeth Reeder Schwartz, Jerry J. Conley | title = The Wild Mammals of Missouri | publisher = University of Missouri Press | year = 2001 | pages = 135–140 | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=uEWl0ZM6DfUC& pg=PA140& dq=eastern+chipmunk+young#PPA140,M1 | isbn = 0-8262-1359-6
These small mammals fulfill several important functions in forest ecosystem s. Their activities harvesting and hoarding tree seeds play a crucial role in seedling establishment. They consume many different kinds of fungi , including those involved in Mycorrhiza|symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with trees, and are an important dispersal vector|vector for dispersal of the spores of subterranean Sporocarp (fungi)|sporocarps (truffles) which have co-evolved with these and other wikt:mycophagous|mycophagous mammals and thus lost the ability to disperse their spores through the air.cite book | last = Apostol | first = Dean | coauthors = Marcia Sinclair | title = Restoring the Pacific Northwest: The Art and Science of Ecological Restoration in Cascadia | publisher = Island Press | year = 2006 | page = 112 | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=CsGyhzFBjyAC& pg=PA112& dq=chipmunk+sporocarps| isbn = 1-55963-078-7
Chipmunks construct expansive burrow s which can be more than 3.5 m in length with several well-concealed entrances. The sleeping quarters are kept extremely clean as shells and feces are stored in refuse tunnels.
Chipmunks play an important role as prey for various predatory mammals and birds, but are also opportunistic predators themselves, particularly with regard to bird eggs and nestling s. In Oregon , mountain bluebird s ( Siala currucoides ) have been observed energetically mobbing chipmunks that they see near their nest trees.Citation needed|date=June 2009 Chipmunks typically live about three years, although have been observed living to nine years in captivity. http://www.essortment.com/information-chipmunks-56048.html Information on Chipmunks http://www.essortment.com/information-chipmunks-56048.html
Chipmunks in captivity are said to sleep for an average of about 15 hours a day. It is thought that mammals which can sleep in hiding, such as rodents and bats, tend to sleep longer than those that must remain on alert."40 Winks? " Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic Vol. 220, No. 1. July 2011.
Classification
Subgenus Eastern chipmunk|Tamias http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp? id=12401131 Tamias , Mammal Species of the World, 3rd ed.
Eastern chipmunk , Tamias striatus
Subgenus Eutamias
Siberian chipmunk , Eutamias sibiricus
Subgenus Neotamias
Alpine chipmunk , Neotamias alpinus
Yellow-pine chipmunk , Neotamias amoenus
Buller's chipmunk , Neotamias bulleri
Gray-footed chipmunk , Neotamias canipes
Gray-collared chipmunk , Neotamias cinereicollis
Cliff chipmunk , Neotamias dorsalis
Durango chipmunk , Neotamias durangae
Merriam's chipmunk , Neotamias merriami
Least chipmunk , Neotamias minimus
California chipmunk , Neotamias obscurus
Yellow-cheeked chipmunk , Neotamias ochrogenys
Palmer's chipmunk , Neotamias palmeri
Panamint chipmunk , Neotamias panamintinus
Long-eared chipmunk , Neotamias quadrimaculatus
Colorado chipmunk , Neotamias quadrivittatus
Red-tailed chipmunk , Neotamias ruficaudus
Hopi chipmunk , Neotamias rufus
Allen's chipmunk , Neotamias senex
Siskiyou chipmunk , Neotamias siskiyou
Sonoma chipmunk , Neotamias sonomae
Lodgepole chipmunk , Neotamias speciosus
Townsend's chipmunk , Neotamias townsendii
Uinta chipmunk , Neotamias umbrinus
Extinct:
† Tamias aristus
See also
Golden-mantled ground squirrel
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Chip 'n Dale
Notes
Reflist
Further reading
Baack, Jessica K. and Paul V. Switzer. "Alarm Calls Affect Foraging Behavior in Eastern Chipmunks (Tamias Striatus, Rodentia: Sciuridae)." Ethology. Vol. 106. Dec. 2003. 1057–1066.
Gordon, Kenneth Llewellyn. The Natural History and Behavior of the Western Chipmunk and the Mantled Ground Squirrel. Oregon: 1943
Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm (1995). A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
