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Least chipmunk - TAMIAS MINIMUS
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Chipmunk": "Chipmunk" comes from the native American Algonquin word for the animal, "chitmunk."
Location: North Americs from Alaska to Mexico.
Habitat: Varied: from desert terrain to coniferous forests at high altitude, but mainly in areas with bushes.
Description: The color of the fur varies depending on the geographical location: from grayish-yellow to pale yellow, and with black and pale stripes extending to the base of the tail. When it runs, the tail is held upright. It has large pouches in its cheeks. The female has 8 nipples. Length is about nine inches, half of which is tail. I weighs just an ounce or two.
Behavior: This chipmunk feeds on seeds, fruit, and insects. It uses its large cheek pouches to carry food back to its nest, which it builds among rocks or behind fallen tree trunks. It also burrows into the ground. Summer nests may be different from, and less well sheltered than the winter nests found in deeper burrows. The nests are carefully constructed of grass and other fibrous or downy material. It climbs nimbly and swiftly in trees and is a very busy creature in spring, summer, and autumn. In winter it hibernates.
Reproduction: It may have two litters a year, with five or six young in each. Gestation lasts about 30 days.
Go to the Rodents Page to learn more about all the gnawing animals.
Go to the Eastern Chipmunk for
the only other Chipmunk listed in America Zoo.
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