Common Name: Eastern Chipmunk
Scientific Name: Tamias striatus
Habitat: Open woodlands with plenty of downed logs or rock piles. It also tolerates life well around humans.
Diet: Mostly herbivorous, choosing a wide variety of berries and seeds.
Insects and small vertebrates are sometimes eaten as well.
Interesting Facts:
This small ground squirrel builds an extensive burrow system, with multiple entrances, where large caches of food are sometimes stored. Food may also be stored in a small hole which the chipmunk excavates and then covers. Unlike the gray squirrel that hides a single acorn in each hole, large stores may be transported in the cheeks of a chipmunk for storage at a single site. Trees are sometimes climbed in search of food.