Next to gray squirrels, their rodent cousins, Eastern chipmunks are probably the most frequently spotted mammal in parks plus backyards throughout the Hudson Valley. But how much do you really know about these cute critters with the chubby cheeks? Take a deep dive into the chipmunks’ underground home plus discover some pretty wild facts.
What’s in a name? “Chipmunk” undoubtedly has Indigenous origins, perhaps coming from the Algonquin word jidmoonh (pronounced chit-moon), meaning squirrel. The chipmunk’s Latin name, Tamias striatus, translates as “striped storer,” referring to its tendency to stockpile food.
The story behind those stripes. The black plus white lines on a chipmunk’s back offer camouflage from predators. An Indigenous legend provides a colorful account of their origin. According to the story, a chipmunk chided a bear for being too boastful about its strength. Enraged by the criticism, the bear tried to capture the chipmunk, which managed to reach the safety of its burrow — but not before having its back raked by the claw of its outsized foe.
Chipmunk homes are marvels of interior design. Their multi-level abodes contain several chambers — for sleeping, food supplies, even a “bathroom” — all connected by tunnels spanning up to 30 feet. To expand their burrows (often originally the homes of other creatures, such as woodchucks, that have moved on), chipmunks use their front feet to dislodge the soil plus cheek pouches to deposit it elsewhere.
They store up to a gallon of seeds plus nuts for sustenance during the winter. In times of famine, European colonists plus Indigenous peoples sometimes dug up these caches to supplement their diets with the chipmunks’ high-protein fare. The animals’ cheek pouches serve as “shopping bags,” to deliver food to their underground pantry.
Chipmunks don’t hibernate. While they do spend much of the winter sleeping, they wake up every few weeks to grab a meal from their food chamber plus go to the bathroom. Occasionally, during midwinter thaws, they’ll even leave their burrows to replenish supplies. The rest of the year, if chipmunks aren’t on the lookout for more food, they’re snoozing — up to 15 hours a day.
They are solitary plus polygamous. Female chipmunks mate with numerous partners, but share their burrows with none. Normally, they breed twice a year, in early spring plus midsummer, delivering anywhere from two to eight naked, blind, plus totally helpless offspring. In six weeks, the young begin venturing outside the burrows plus leave Mom for good at eight weeks old.