Eastern Chipmunk
Haley Turner and Sarah Tucker
The Eastern Chipmunk
The eastern chipmunk has reddish-brown fur on its back and sides and white fur on its stomach. It has two white stripes bordered by black on its sides and one black stripe on the center of its back. The eastern chipmunk has light stripes above and below its eyes and it has pouches in its cheeks that it uses to store and carry food. The eastern chipmunk is a small rodent that lives in burrows under the ground and is usually found above ground looking for food to eat and store.
Evolution of the Eastern Chipmunk
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Rodentia

Family: Sciuridae

Tribe: Marmotini

Genus: Tamias

Subgenus: Tamias
Species: T. …show more content…
Studies of the mitochondrial DNA of the chipmunk have shown that the divergence of each of three chipmunk groups is close to the genetic similarities and differences of Marmota and Spermophilus.

Ecology
Life Span
The average lifespan of the eastern chipmunk is about 3 years living out in the wild. Due to their small size, they are prey upon by larger animals of prey and such as hawks and foxes,

Fecundity
The gestation period of the eastern chipmunk is 31 days and at the end of the gestation period a female will give birth to between one and eight offspring. The offspring will be hairless and will depend on their mother heavily for at least the first month of their life.

Range, Size, and Habitats
Range
The eastern chipmunk is found all over the United States, from as far north as Canada and as far south as Alabama.

Size
Eastern chipmunks grow up to 11 inches long and can weight up to 4.4 ounces. They usually grow between 4 and 7 inches and weight between 1 to 5 ounces and their tails can grow as long as 3 to 5 inches …show more content…
In particular, they enjoy eating and storing bulbs from flowers, seeds, fruits, nuts, green plants, mushrooms, worms, and the occasional bird egg. Chipmunks store their food for the winter by either burying it or storing it in their burrows and this food is eaten during the winter when the foods they survive off of are not growing. When they collect food, they carry it in pouches in their cheeks which allows then to gather a large amount at a time and carry it with them until their pouches are full then emptying the contents of their pouches into their hiding places to store the food for use during the extreme cold of