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About Chipmunk: Appearance, biology, life cycle, habitat, diet, behavior



Chipmunks are small, but cute looking and very innocent rodents and they belong to the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are native to North America and they are found abundantly in the whole continent except for the Siberian chipmunk which is also found in Asia and it is the primary habitat if this chipmunk. These animals are closest relatives of squirrels and mice.

Dietary habits of chipmunks
As far as the dietary habits of the chipmunks are concerned, these animals are omnivorous in their diet. They usually do not get picky about what they eat but generally there are certain foods which are eaten more frequently and abundantly by the chipmunks. Commonly the chipmunks eat the seeds, fruits, buds and nuts. Sometimes they are also found eating up the grasses of some specific kinds, different forms of plant matter and shoots of the herbaceous plants. In addition to this, the carnivorous appetite of the chipmunks is fulfilled by eating up the insects, frogs, arthropods and eggs of the birds. These are some of the favorite diets of the chipmunks. They can also even eat up to frogs. If the chipmunks are found near the domestic areas, they are found roosting on the cultivated vegetables and grains mostly. That is why the chipmunks are regarded as the pests.

Behavior
Most commonly the chipmunks are furgivore animals which means that they mostly live on fruits and seeds. Their favorite food is the hazelnut and they climb trees for finding out the hazelnuts and acorns. Usually when the autumn season approaches, the chipmunks start storing the food and most commonly the stored food by chipmunks is the seeds. Basically they choose seeds as the storage food because it does not decomposes of perished and can last for a long time. This is helpful because they have to stay in their burrows and nests till spring.

Reproduction
The mating of chipmunks carried out in the spring season and this happens especially among the Eastern chipmunks. Second mating takes place in summer. The chipmunks give birth to litter twice in a year and every time, they give birth to 4 to 5 young ones. In the initial time the young ones do not emerge out suddenly. Instead they take some time to emerge from the burrows and nests. As far as the Western chipmunks are concerned, they breed only once a year and their young ones become independent much earlier.

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