Portrait Of A Chipmunk

by Deena Stoddard

Title

Portrait Of A Chipmunk

Artist

Deena Stoddard

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. All species of chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk, which is found in Asia.

The common name originally may have been spelled "chitmunk," from the native Odawa (Ottawa) word jidmoonh, meaning "red squirrel" .

Chipmunks have an omnivorous diet primarily consisting of seeds, nuts and other fruits, and buds. They also commonly eat grass, shoots, and many other forms of plant matter, as well as fungi, insects and other arthropods, small frogs, worms, and bird eggs. Around humans, chipmunks can eat cultivated grains and vegetables, and other plants from farms and gardens, so they are sometimes considered pests. Chipmunks mostly forage on the ground, but they climb trees to obtain nuts such as hazelnuts and acorns. At the beginning of autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile nonperishable foods for winter. They mostly cache their foods in a larder in their burrows and remain in their nests until spring, unlike some other species, which make multiple small caches of food. Cheek pouches allow chipmunks to carry multiple food items to their burrows for either storage or consumption.

Chipmunks construct expansive burrows 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 typically live about three years, although have been observed living to nine years in captivity.

This little cutie was captured in rural southwest Missouri.


All images © 2011-2020 Deena Stoddard ~ All Rights Reserved

Uploaded

October 4th, 2013

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