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By Jayne Winters
As I sat on our back deck the other day, watching one of “my” chippies fill his cheeks with peanuts, it dawned on me that I had only seen one or two chipmunks at Duck Pond Wildlife Center since I started writing this column about three years ago. Don confirmed they’ve had a few over the years, but more often deal with squirrels that have been injured by predators or cars or dislodged from their nests.
I went through some of Carleen Cote’s earlier Critter Chatter columns and found one from August 2009, “The Charming Chipmunk.” She wrote they had cared for very few chipmunks over their then 45 years of rehab. She noted that “because they are born underground, they are rarely found at an age when they are dependent on humans for care.” The name “chipmunk” comes from an Abenaki word meaning “one who descends trees headlong.” First described in a 1743 book, chipmunks were later classified as Sciurus striatus, or “striped squirrel.” A small member of the squirrel family, chippies have reddish-brown fur with a single stripe down the middle of their backs and a white stripe between two black stripes down each side of the body. They are 8-10” long, including the tail, and weigh 2-5 ounces. Interestingly, the Eastern Chipmunk has two fewer teeth than other chipmunks and four toes each on the front legs, five on the hind legs. It typically lives in mature woodland areas in the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, preferring rocky areas, brush or log piles, and shrubs to provide cover; they are also found around suburban and rural homes. While they do climb trees, most of their time is spent foraging on the ground, being most active during the early morning and late afternoon.
Chipmunks build underground nests with extensive tunnel systems, often with several entrances. They line their burrows with leaves, rocks, sticks, and other material, making the burrows hard to see. They live a solitary life, except during mating season and the six to eight weeks the young spend with their mother. Females usually produce one or two litters of three to five babies; breeding seasons are February to April and again in June to August. During the winter, chipmunks may enter long periods of hibernation, but wake up to eat stored food; sometimes they can be seen out of their burrow during mild winter weather. Their diet consists primarily of nuts, berries, seeds, and mushrooms. I was surprised to learn they occasionally eat insects, salamanders, young birds, and bird eggs. They hoard food for the winter by carrying it in special cheek pouches.
Chipmunks are considered valuable forest inhabitants, because they move seeds around, resulting in tree and plant regeneration and are an important food source for birds and other mammals. Predators include hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, snakes, weasels, bobcats, lynx and domestic cats and dogs. They usually live three or more years in the wild, but in captivity may live as long as eight years. Although they don’t cause serious agricultural damage, they can be a nuisance if they eat flower bulbs, fruits, seeds and seedlings. They may cause structural damage by digging under patios, stairs, walls or foundations.
In my research, I found it interesting that Eastern chipmunks are known to be a host for the parasitic larvae of botflies. A couple summers ago, my husband and I had a fairly tame chipmunk at camp that had a furless, open sore on its cheek which likely was the result of a botfly rather than a tussle injury. On a happier note (pun intended), I also learned chipmunks have about five vocal sounds: chips, chucks, trills, whistles or squeals, and chatter. Its trill has been measured at a rate of 130 vibrations per minute.
— Duck Pond Wildlife Care Center on Route 3 in Vassalboro is operated by Donald Cote. It is a nonprofit federal and state permitted rehab facility supported by his own resources and outside donations. Mailing address is 1787 North Belfast Ave., Vassalboro ME 04989; telephone is 207-445-4326; please note: email is not being monitored.
