Critters in the back yard
Chipmunks are cute little critters, much cuter than a squirrel. They are smaller and have stripes running along their faces and tails. They spend most of their time gathering food to store. They like to eat grain, nuts, bird’s eggs, insects and berries. They will swipe your ripe strawberries, blueberries or raspberries, so watch out!
They live in burrows or tunnels underground that can go more than a mile long! They have many openings to these burrows.
Chipmunk Facts
If Chipmunks can get to a birdfeeder, they will load up their cheeks with seeds and take the food back to their burrows to store in a chamber in their burrow, just like a pantry in your kitchen.
Other tidbits:
- Chipmunks make a chirping like sound. Used mostly when sensing a danger.
- The Mommies have 2-8 babies at a time and stay with them only 2 months till they learn how to gather and store food for themselves.
- The Chipmunk is a mammal- which is a scientific class of species which are so named because they have backbones, hair, and are nursed by their mothers.
- They will live 2-3 years, are 4-7 inches long with a tail 3-5 inches.
- There are 25 different species (types) of chipmunks and all but one are found in North America. They are also common in Asia.
- Their color may be gray to reddish-brown.