Gray-footed chipmunk

The gray-footed chipmunk (Neotamias canipes) is a forest-dwelling chipmunk of the squirrel family, native to the mountains of southeastern New Mexico and, in Texas, the Guadalupe and Sierra Diablo ranges of the Trans-Pecos region. It was first described in 1902 and takes its common name from the gray colouring on the upper side of its hind feet. Its fur is grayish with brown and white stripes on the head and body, a black upper tail and a reddish brown underside to the tail, and adults usually weigh between 65 and 75 grams, the female being larger than the male. It lives mainly between 1,600 and 3,600 metres in coniferous forest, pinyon and juniper woodland and rocky hillsides, favouring fallen logs and rock crevices for shelter. It is active by day, eats acorns, conifer seeds, berries, mushrooms and insects, relies on seed caches through winter torpor, and the female bears about four young each year. It was long treated as a subspecies of the gray-collared chipmunk and became a full species in 1960.