{{Short description|Subtribe of mammals}} {{Other uses}} {{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Chipmunks | fossil_range = Early Miocene to Recent | image = Chipmunk with stuffed cheeks in Prospect Park (05980).jpg | image_caption = Eastern chipmunk (''Tamias striatus'') | taxon = Tamiina | authority = Moore, 1959 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision_ref = | subdivision = * ''Eutamias'' * ''Neotamias'' * †''Nototamias'' * ''Tamias'' }}
'''Chipmunks''' are small, striped squirrels of subtribe '''Tamiina'''. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk, which is found primarily in Asia. The name "chipmunk" originated in the 19th century, and other names for this group of squirrels include chitmunk, chipmuck, chipping squirrel, and ground squirrel, though the last name can refer to squirrels of other genera.
Chipmunks are omnivorous animals, and have diets that primarily include seeds, nuts, fruits and buds but may extend to include other plant matter, fungi, insects, small frogs, worms, bird eggs and nestlings. Their varied diet allows them to feed on plants such as grains and vegetables grown by humans, which has led them to be considered pests in some areas. Many species of chipmunk will commonly carry food items in their cheek pouches back to their burrows to eat or store for winter, and this seed storing behavior contributes to the dispersal and establishment of seedlings and fungi in forests.
==Taxonomy and systematics== Chipmunks are classified as four genera: ''Tamias'', of which the eastern chipmunk (''T. striatus'') is the only living member; ''Eutamias'', of which the Siberian chipmunk (''E. sibiricus'') is the only living member; ''Nototamias'', which consists of three extinct species, and ''Neotamias'', which includes the 23 remaining, mostly western North American, species. These classifications were treated as subgenera due to the chipmunks' morphological similarities.<ref name=Patterson>{{cite journal |journal=Mammalia |year=2016 |volume=80 |issue=3 |pages=241–251 |title=Towards a uniform nomenclature for ground squirrels: the status of the Holarctic chipmunks |last1=Patterson|first1=Bruce D. |last2=Norris|first2=Ryan W. |doi=10.1515/mammalia-2015-0004 |s2cid=9955150 |url=https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~jacks/PattersonNorris.16.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608182301/https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~jacks/PattersonNorris.16.pdf |archive-date=2019-06-08 |url-status=live |access-date=2019-06-08}}</ref> As a result, most taxonomies over the twentieth century have placed the chipmunks into a single genus.<ref>{{MSW3 Sciuridae|heading=''Tamias''|id=12401131}}</ref> Joseph C. Moore reclassified chipmunks to form the subtribe Tamiina within the tribe Marmotini in a 1959 study,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Joseph C. |date=1959-01-01 |title=Relationships among the living squirrels of the Sciurinae |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |volume=118}}</ref> and this classification of three living genera of chipmunks rather than a single chipmunk genus has been supported by studies of mitochondrial DNA performed from 2000 to 2010.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{cite journal|last1=Piaggio|first1= A. J. |last2= Spicer|first2= G. S.|year= 2001|title=Molecular phylogeny of the chipmunks inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome ''b'' and cytochrome oxidase II gene sequences|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume= 20|issue= 3 |pages= 335–350|url=http://online.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio01.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823153636/http://online.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio01.pdf |archive-date=2012-08-23 |url-status=live|doi=10.1006/mpev.2001.0975|pmid= 11527462 |bibcode= 2001MolPE..20..335P |citeseerx= 10.1.1.330.9046 }}|{{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|first1=Antoinette J.|last1=Piaggio|first2=Greg S. |last2=Spicer|url=http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio00.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913140312/http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~gs/spicer/pages/spicerpdf/piaggio00.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-13 |url-status=live|doi=10.1023/a:1009484302799|pages=147–166|s2cid= 7623018}}|{{cite journal|last1=Musser|first1= G. G.|last2=Durden|first2= L. A.|last3= Holden|first3= M. E.|last4= Light|first4= J. E.|year=2010|title=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|journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History|volume= 339|issue= 339|pages= 1–260|hdl= 2246/6067|doi= 10.1206/695.1|s2cid= 82712592|url= http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/2246/6067/1/B339.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430025925/http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/2246/6067/1/B339.pdf |archive-date=2018-04-30 |url-status=live}}}}</ref>
The common name originally may have been spelled "chitmunk", from the native Odawa (Ottawa) word ''jidmoonh'', meaning "red squirrel" (''cf.'' Ojibwe {{lang|oj|ᐊᒋᑕᒨ}} ''ajidamoo'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=chipmunk |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref><ref>Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm (1995). ''A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.</ref> The earliest form cited in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is "chipmonk", from 1842. Other early forms include "chipmuck" and "chipminck", and in the 1830s they were also referred to as "chip squirrels", probably in reference to the sound they make. In the mid-19th century, John James Audubon and his sons included a lithograph of the chipmunk in their ''Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America'', calling it the "chipping squirrel [or] hackee".<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Audubon | first1 = John James | last2 = Bachman | first2 = John | title = Imperial Collection of Audubon Mammals | publisher = Bonanza Books, a division of Crown Publishing Group | year = 1967 | location = New York | page = 52}}</ref> Chipmunks have also been referred to as ground squirrels<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Ground-squirrel|volume=12|page=626}}</ref> (although the name "ground squirrel" may refer to other squirrels, such as those of the genus ''Spermophilus'').<ref name=Krystufek2013>{{cite journal | author1=Kryštufek, B. | author2=B. Vohralík | year=2013 | title=Taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic rodents (Rodentia). Part 2. Sciuridae: Urocitellus, Marmota and Sciurotamias | journal=Lynx, N. S. (Praha) | volume=44 | page=22 }}</ref>
==Diet== thumb|left|An eastern chipmunk placing food in its cheek pouch
Chipmunks have an omnivorous diet primarily consisting of seeds, nuts and other fruits, and buds.<ref name=hazard/><ref name=WVDNR/> 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. They will also occasionally eat newly hatched baby birds.<ref name=hazard/><ref name=WVDNR/><ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|{{cite web|url=http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/chipmunk.htm |title=Eastern Chipmunk - Tamias striatus - NatureWorks |publisher=Nhptv.org |access-date=2012-12-07}}|{{cite iucn |author=Cassola, F. |year=2016 |errata=2017 |title=''Neotamias minimus'' |article-number=e.T42572A115190804 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T42572A22267269.en}}|{{cite iucn |author=Tsytsulina, K. |author2=Formozov, N. |author3=Shar, S. |author4=Lkhagvasuren, D. |author5=Sheftel, B. |year=2016 |errata=2017 |title=''Eutamias sibiricus'' |article-number=e.T21360A115161465 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T21360A22268598.en}}|{{cite iucn |author=Cassola, F. |year=2016 |errata=2017 |title=''Neotamias townsendii'' |article-number=e.T42584A115191888 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T42584A22268822.en}}}}</ref> Around humans, chipmunks can eat cultivated grains and vegetables, and other plants from farms and gardens, so they are sometimes considered pests.<ref name=hazard/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/wildlife/index.php?subject=Mammals&id=22 |title=Chipmunks | Living With Wildlife |publisher=Mass Audubon |access-date=2012-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218031247/http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/wildlife/index.php?subject=Mammals&id=22 |archive-date=2012-12-18 }}</ref> Chipmunks mostly forage on the ground, but they climb trees to obtain nuts such as hazelnuts and acorns.<ref name=hazard/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/wildlife/chipmunk.html |title=Chipmunk at Animal Corner |publisher=Animalcorner.co.uk |date=2004-01-01 |access-date=2012-12-07}}</ref> 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.<ref name=hazard/> Cheek pouches allow chipmunks to carry food items to their burrows for either storage or consumption.<ref name=WVDNR>{{cite web|url=http://www.wvdnr.gov/Wildlife/Magazine/Archive/04Fall/Eastern_Chipmunk.shtm |title=West Virginia Wildlife Magazine: Wildlife Diversity Notebook. Eastern chipmunk |publisher=Wvdnr.gov |access-date=2012-12-07}}</ref>
==Ecology and life history== [[File:Chimps2.theora.ogv|thumb|Chipmunks in northern Wisconsin]] thumb|Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow
Eastern chipmunks, the largest of the chipmunks,<ref>{{Cite web|title=National Geographic|website=National Geographic Society |date=11 April 2010 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/chipmunks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301043528/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/chipmunks |archive-date=2021-03-01 }}</ref> mate in early spring and again in early summer, producing litters of four or five young twice each year.<ref name=hazard>{{cite book | last = Hazard | first = Evan B. | title = The Mammals of Minnesota | publisher = University of Minnesota Press | year = 1982 | pages = 52–54 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sjoQK1bedB0C&q=eastern+chipmunk+mate&pg=PA53 | isbn = 978-0-8166-0952-9}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book | last = Schwartz | first = Charles Walsh |author2=Elizabeth Reeder Schwartz |author3=Jerry J. Conley | title = The Wild Mammals of Missouri | publisher = University of Missouri Press | year = 2001 | pages = 135–140 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uEWl0ZM6DfUC&q=eastern+chipmunk+young&pg=PA140 | isbn = 978-0-8262-1359-4}}</ref>
These small mammals fulfill several important functions in forest ecosystems. 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 symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with trees, and are a vector for dispersal of the spores of subterranean sporocarps (truffles) in some regions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pyare |first1=Sanjay |last2=Longland |first2=William S. |date=2001 |title=Patterns of Ectomycorrhizal-Fungi Consumption by Small Mammals in Remnant Old-Growth Forests of the Sierra Nevada |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=681–689 |doi=10.1644/1545-1542(2001)082<0681:POEFCB>2.0.CO;2 |jstor=1383605 |issn=0022-2372}}</ref> Movement or storage of seeds in soil caused by chipmunks leads to the germination of new plants.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chipmunks in the Garden at Fort Ticonderoga|url=https://fortticonderoga.org/news/chipmunks-in-the-garden/,%20https://fortticonderoga.org/news/chipmunks-in-the-garden/|website=fortticonderoga.org|date=2016-11-10|access-date=2025-11-27|language=en-US|first=Ryann|last=Wiktorko}}</ref> <!--which have co-evolved with these and other mycophagous mammals and thus lost the ability to disperse their spores through the air.<ref>{{cite book | last = Apostol | first = Dean |author2=Marcia Sinclair | title = Restoring the Pacific Northwest: The Art and Science of Ecological Restoration in Cascadia | publisher = Island Press | year = 2006 | page = 112 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CsGyhzFBjyAC&q=chipmunk+sporocarps&pg=PA112| isbn = 978-1-55963-078-8}}</ref>{{Failed verification |date=April 2017|reason=The citation only discusses northern flying squirrels eating the truffles. Chipmunks are merely mentioned as part of the above-ground food web, providing food for spotted owls, and the repetition of northern flying squirrels in that trio indicates they are not saying the Townsend's chipmunks are equivalent consumers in the food web. Chipmunks probably do eat truffles too, but this source does not say so.}}-->
Chipmunks construct extensive burrows which can be more than {{convert|3.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} in length with several well-concealed entrances.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.esf.edu/aec/adks/mammals/chipmunk.htm | title=Eastern Chipmunk | publisher=Adirondack Ecological Center | work=Adirondack Mammals | date=1988 | access-date=2015-09-19 | author=Saunders, D. A.}}</ref> The burrows are complex and include plugged entryways,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Burrow Systems of the Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus pipilans Lowery) in Louisiana|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1379017|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|date=1974|issn=0022-2372|pages=454–459|volume=55|issue=2|doi=10.2307/1379017|first=Kim Rutherford|last=Thomas}}</ref> separate compartments for nesting, multiple food chambers, side pockets and escape routes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chipmunks|url=https://extension.psu.edu/chipmunks|website=extension.psu.edu|access-date=2025-11-27|language=en}}</ref> The sleeping quarters are kept clear of shells, and feces are stored in refuse tunnels.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9fWfWLmMcIC&q=chipmunk+refuse+tunnel&pg=PA250 | title=Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | isbn=978-0-8018-8682-9 | date=October 2007 | access-date=2015-09-19 | author=Leslie Day}}</ref> They are diurnal.<ref name=":0">Jennifer S. Holland "40 Winks?" (July 2011). ''National Geographic'' Vol. 220, No. 1.</ref> though The eastern chipmunk hibernates in the winter, while western chipmunks do not, relying on the stores in their burrows.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kays|first1=R. W.|first2=Don E.|last2=Wilson|year=2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|title=Mammals of North America|edition=2nd|isbn=978-0-691-14092-6|page=72}}</ref> Chipmunks play an important role as prey for various predatory mammals and birds, but are also opportunistic predators themselves. This is particularly the case with regard to bird eggs and nestlings, as in the case of eastern chipmunks and mountain bluebirds.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sullivan|first1=Janet|title=WILDLIFE SPECIES: Sialia currucoides|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/animals/bird/sicu/all.html|website=Fire Effects Information System, [Online]|publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory|access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref>
Chipmunks typically live about three years, although some have been observed living to nine years in captivity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.essortment.com/information-chipmunks-56048.html |title=Information on Chipmunks |work=Essortment |publisher=Essortment.com |date=1986-05-16 |access-date=2012-12-07 |archive-date=2012-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222102625/http://www.essortment.com/information-chipmunks-56048.html}}</ref> In captivity, they 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.<ref name=":0" />
==Genera== Genus ''Eutamias''<ref>{{Cite mdd|species=sibiricus|id=1001719|genus=Eutamias|access-date=1 December 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite iucn |author=Tsytsulina, K. |author2=Formozov, N. |author3=Shar, S. |author4=Lkhagvasuren, D. |author5=Sheftel, B. |year=2016 |errata=2017 |title=''Eutamias sibiricus'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T21360A115161465 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T21360A22268598.en |access-date=1 December 2025}}</ref> * Siberian chipmunk, ''Eutamias sibiricus''
Genus ''Tamias''<ref>{{Cite mdd|species=striatus|id=1001785 |genus=Tamias|access-date=1 December 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite iucn |author=Cassola, F. |year=2016 |errata=2017 |title=''Tamias striatus'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T42583A115191543 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T42583A22268905.en |access-date=1 December 2025}}</ref> * Eastern chipmunk, ''Tamias striatus'' * ''Tamias aristus'' †<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A New Chipmunk, Tamias aristus, from the Pleistocene of Georgia|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3555320|journal=Journal of Paleontology|date=1965|issn=0022-3360|pages=1016–1022|volume=39|issue=5|first=Clayton E.|last=Ray}}</ref>
Genus ''Neotamias''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=Neotamias&searchType=species|title=Search for "Neotamias"|access-date=1 December 2025|website=IUCN Red List}}</ref>
{{Div col}} * Allen's chipmunk, ''Neotamias senex'' * Alpine chipmunk, ''Neotamias alpinus'' * Buller's chipmunk, ''Neotamias bulleri'' * California chipmunk, ''Neotamias obscurus'' * Cliff chipmunk, ''Neotamias dorsalis'' * Colorado chipmunk, ''Neotamias quadrivittatus'' * Durango chipmunk, ''Neotamias durangae'' * Gray-collared chipmunk, ''Neotamias cinereicollis'' * Gray-footed chipmunk, ''Neotamias canipes'' * Hopi chipmunk, ''Neotamias rufus'' * Least chipmunk, ''Neotamias minimus'' * Lodgepole chipmunk, ''Neotamias speciosus'' * Long-eared chipmunk, ''Neotamias quadrimaculatus'' * Merriam's chipmunk, ''Neotamias merriami'' * Palmer's chipmunk, ''Neotamias palmeri'' * Panamint chipmunk, ''Neotamias panamintinus'' * Red-tailed chipmunk, ''Neotamias ruficaudus'' * Siskiyou chipmunk, ''Neotamias siskiyou'' * Sonoma chipmunk, ''Neotamias sonomae'' * Townsend's chipmunk, ''Neotamias townsendii'' * Uinta chipmunk, ''Neotamias umbrinus'' * Yellow-cheeked chipmunk, ''Neotamias ochrogenys'' * Yellow-pine chipmunk, ''Neotamias amoenus'' {{Div col end}}
Genus ''Nototamias'' †<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fostowicz-Frelik |first1=Lucja A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GU3iEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 |title=Biotic changes in terrestrial environments around the Eocene–Oligocene transition |last2=Li |first2=Qian |last3=Métais |first3=Grégoire |date=2023-11-09 |publisher=Frontiers Media SA |isbn=978-2-8325-3864-7 |language=en}}</ref>
* ''Nototamias ateles'' † * ''Nototamias hulberti'' † * ''Nototamias quadratus'' †
== In popular culture == * Alvin and the Chipmunks, an animated virtual band * Chip 'n' Dale, cartoon Disney chipmunks
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=Kenneth Llewellyn |year=1943 |title=The Natural History and Behavior of the Western Chipmunk and the Mantled Ground Squirrel |url= |series=Oregon State College Monographs. Studies in zoology, no. 5 |location=Corvallis, Or. |publisher=Oregon State College |pages= |lccn=44053700 |oclc=752445896 }}
==External links== * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424111229/http://www.britishcolumbia.com/Wildlife/wildlife/landmammals/cw/cw_chipmunk.html |date=April 24, 2008 |title=Wildlife and Nature – Chipmunk }}
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Category:Chipmunks Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Extant Miocene first appearances Category:Mammal common names Category:Taxa described in 1959