n.
Any of several small striped terrestrial squirrels of the genera Tamias and Eutamias, especially T. striatus of eastern North America.
[Alteration of obsolete chitmunk, perhaps from Ojibwa ajidamoonʼ, red squirrel.]
Any of several small striped terrestrial squirrels of the genera Tamias and Eutamias, especially T. striatus of eastern North America.
[Alteration of obsolete chitmunk, perhaps from Ojibwa ajidamoonʼ, red squirrel.]
A member of the tribe Marmotini in the rodent family Sciuridae. There are 18 species. The eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) is found in wooded areas of eastern Canada and the United States. The western species, although quite similar to the eastern form, are included in the separate genus Eutamias.
These rodents are intermediate between the squirrels and marmots, having lost the typical bushy tail, tufted ears, and silky fur of the squirrel. They are diurnal animals, active in collecting food such as nuts, grains, and seeds. They fill their large cheek pouches with gathered food to carry it to storage places for the winter.
The animals construct extensive burrows of several chambers at the bottom of a downward sloping entry tunnel, which is about 3 ft (1 m) long. The chambers, used for hoarding food and for nesting, are below the frost line. While chipmunks are not true hibernators, they tend to remain in their underground chambers during the winter months. In the early spring they emerge from the burrows and mating occurs. After a gestation period of 5 weeks six or more young are born, blind and helpless. See also Rodentia.
For more information on chipmunk, visit Britannica.com.
The noun chipmunk has one meaning:
Meaning #1: chipmunk of western America and Asia
Chipmunk is the common name for any small squirrel-like rodent species of the genus Tamias in the family Sciuridae. About 23 species fall under this title, with one species in northeastern Asia, one in the eastern portions of Canada and the US, and the rest native to the western part of North America. The name may have originally been spelled chitmunk (perhaps from the Ojibwe word ajidamoo, meaning red squirrel). However, the earliest form cited in the Oxford English Dictionary (from 1842) is chipmonk. Other early forms include chipmuck and chipminck, and in the 1830s they were also referred to as chip squirrels, possibly in reference to the sound they make. They are also called striped squirrel or ground squirrel; however, the name ground squirrel is more usually kept for the genus Spermophilus, though Tamias and Spermophilus are only two of the 13 genera of ground-living sciurids.
Eastern chipmunks mate in early spring and again in early summer to produce two litters, each of four to five young, but western chipmunks only breed once a year. The young emerge from the burrow after about six weeks and strike out on their own within the next two weeks.
Though they are commonly depicted with their paws up to the mouth, eating peanuts, or more famously their cheeks bulging out on either side, chipmunks eat a much more diverse range of foods than just nuts. Their omnivorous diet consists of grain, nuts, birds' eggs, fungi, worms, and insects. Come autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile these goods in their burrows, for winter. Other species make multiple small caches of food. These two kinds of behavior are called larder hoarding and scatter hoarding. Larder hoarders usually live in their nests until spring.
These small squirrels fulfill several important functions in forest ecosystems. Their activities with regards to harvesting and hoarding tree seeds play a crucial role in seedling establishment. They also consume many different kinds of fungi, including those involved in symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with trees, and are an important vector for dispersal of the spores of subterranean sporocarps (truffles) which have co-evolved with these and other mycophagous mammals and thus lost the ability to disperse their spores through the air.
Chipmunks play an important role as prey for various predatory mammals and birds, but are also opportunistic predators themselves, particularly with regard to bird eggs and nestlings. In Oregon, Mountain Bluebirds (Siala currucoides) have been observed energetically mobbing chipmunks that they see near their nest trees.
Chipmunks construct expansive burrows which can be more than 3.5 m in length with several well-concealed entrances. The sleeping quarters are kept extremely clean as shells and feces are stored in refuse tunnels.
If unmolested they often become bold enough to accept food from the hands of humans. The temptation to pick up or pet any wild animal should be strictly avoided. While rabies is exceptionally rare, if not non-existent, in rodents, chipmunk bites can transmit virulent and dangerous bacterial infections.
In 1958 Ross Bagdasarian (using the stage name David Seville, named after Seville, Spain) released The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don't Be Late), a sped-up recording of himself performing three-part harmony. The resulting high-pitched cartoony voices were named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore after executives at the record company which published the record. The Chipmunk Song went on to win two Grammy Awards and a new group called David Seville the Chipmunks became a popular novelty act.
In 1961, the group starred in their own animated television series, The Alvin Show. The characters substantially regained popularity in the early 1980s under the guidance of Bagdasarian's son Ross Jr.. A new series, Alvin and the Chipmunks, debuted in 1983, with a feature film (The Chipmunk Adventure, 1987) and several direct-to-video releases in the 1990s following it. Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. provides the voices of Dave, Alvin, and Simon in the new production; his wife Janice Karman does the voice of Theodore and the female Chipmunk spin-off group The Chipettes.
In Disney's animated movie The Emperor's New Groove, character Kronk regularly converses with chipmunks, in their language of squeaks. Walt Disney also created two talking chipmunks, Chip and Dale, during the 1940's.
Giggles, one of the characters in the Flash cartoon Happy Tree Friends is a pink chipmunk (For the cast consists of colourful forest animals.)
Siberian Chipmunk Tamias sibiricus |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Nederlands (Dutch)
aardeekhoorn
Franais (French)
n. - tamia, cureuil, cureuil ray
Deutsch (German)
n. - Backenhrnchen
ή (Greek)
n. - (.) ί, ά
Italiano (Italian)
scoiattolo
Portugus (Portuguese)
n. - tmia (f) (Zool.)
Русский (Russian)
бурундук
Espaol (Spanish)
n. - ardilla listada
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - jordekorre
中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
花栗鼠
中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 花栗鼠
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 얼룩 다람쥐
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - シマリス
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) سنجاب
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - סנאי מפוספס
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
To select your translation preferences click here.
chipping squirrel | tamias |
striped squirrel | Scherzino: A Peterborough Chipmunk, for piano, Op. 128/1 (Keyboard Classical Work) |
hackee | Club Chipmunk: The Dance Mixes |
PSX Chipmunk BASIC | Chipmunk Basic |
Siberian Chipmunk | Alvin the Chipmunks: A Chipmunk Christmas (1981 Children's/Family Film) |
More |