#PARK MSTECH CHIPMUNK BASIC FULL#

That is a devastating mortality rate and it’s somewhat surprising because, after all, chipmunks evolved with the flexibility to be more active when winters are milder. This is because chipmunks remove soil through a different hole, a “work hole”, which they plug upon completion. Note that there is no mound of excavated soil. So how well do we expect chipmunks in the North to cope with climate warming? Might they thrive on less sleep, like their southern cousins?Īn entry hole to a chipmunk’s burrow. Individuals in the North spend more time sleeping in winter than those in the South. The colder the temperature or the scarcer the food availability, the earlier the onset of hibernation and the longer the bouts of torpor. Food availability obviously influences hibernation, but so does ambient temperature, because the animal’s caloric requirement is higher in colder weather. It begins cycling through torpor only when and if it cannot find enough food to meet its energetic demands. The eastern chipmunk ( Tamias striatus) copes with winter by storing food, rather than body fat, and by entering torpor for days at a time, waking up in between to nibble its cache. (Homemade camera trap: Canon 60D with Nikon SB28 flash) This one carries away an acorn in October, probably to its larder. p937.Eastern chipmunks hoard nuts and seeds to consume in winter between bouts of torpor. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals. Unfortunately, they are especially common at picnic areas and overlooks where they become accustomed to being fed by irresponsible park visitors. Uinta Chipmunks can be found throughout the park. When and Where to See Uinta Chipmunks at Bryce Canyon: Feeding wildlife has become a chronic problem throughout America's National Parks.Ĭlick here to learn more about the dangers of feeding wildlife. While the species as a whole is in no danger of extinction, individuals routinely suffer at the hands of humans with misguided good intentions. The Uinta Chipmunk is abundant throughout its range and is equally at home in a wide variety of forest habitats. Uinta Chipmunks nest in the cavities of dead trees or hollow logs and have one litter of 2-5 offspring each spring. The Uinta Chipmunk is considered a tree-dwelling species, which means although it spends lots of time on the ground, it nests and seeks refuge from predators in the trees. In the fall, they not only cache food, but also fatten themselves up to better survive the winter. Uinta Chipmunks are somewhat of an exception to this rule. Instead of storing a winter's worth of fat on their bodies and going into a prolonged sleep, chipmunks make a food cache and wake periodically to eat from this stored food supply.

On the other hand, if you were a chipmunk, you'd spend the summer shopping for an extra six months of groceries and then make trips from the couch to the refrigerator all winter long. To explain the difference in human terms, if you were a ground squirrel you would have to consume an extra six months worth of food during the summer, so you could spend the winter dozing on the couch. By comparison, when a squirrel is threatened by a predator, it has to drop its food if it wants to make a quick getaway.Ī general distinction between chipmunks and ground squirrels is that chipmunks are not true hibernators.

#PARK MSTECH CHIPMUNK BASIC FULL#

Cheek pouches allow chipmunks to transport food back to their nests and still run at full speed on all fours. Large fur-lined cheek pouches are what distinguish chipmunks from the rest of the squirrel family. No ground squirrels in North America have any facial stripes. All of the western chipmunks have a dark eye-line stripe across their faces, as if wearing a Zorro mask. Bryce Canyon is also home to the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, often described as a 'big fat chipmunk.' This type of ground squirrel has similar markings to that of a chipmunk but with one major difference. It lacks any orange coloration and is mainly gray with faint, thin, black and white stripes. The Cliff Chipmunk is the least colorful of the three species. The Uinta Chipmunk has wide and distinct dark brown or black stripes, the Least Chipmunk's dark stripes are narrow. The Uinta Chipmunk is the most common of the three chipmunk species that inhabit Bryce Canyon, and with careful observation, it is possible to distinguish the Uinta Chipmunk from the other two Bryce Canyon species. Looking at certain internal skeletal features, including the baculum, is the only certain means of identification. There are 21 different species of chipmunks in the western United States, and in any one location, two or more species may occupy the same habitat.

Park mstech chipmunk basic