Alpine chipmunk

The alpine chipmunk (Tamias alpinus, placed in the genus Neotamias by some recent authorities) is a small chipmunk found only in the Sierra Nevada of eastern and central California, at elevations from about 2,300 to 3,900 metres, the highest range of any chipmunk in its genus. It lives on talus slopes and in subalpine forest, retreating into deep rock crevices to keep cool on warm summer days. Adults are 166 to 203 millimetres long, with a tail of 63 to 85 millimetres, and weigh about 28 to 50 grams. The coat is pale yellowish gray with reddish or brownish side stripes and a bright orange belly, which helps the animal blend into the gray rocks. It is mainly active by day and feeds on the small seeds of sedges and other alpine plants, berries and some fungi, caching food for the winter. It hibernates from about October to late May or early June, raises one litter of four or five young a year and typically lives two to three years in the wild. It is listed as Least Concern.