The red-tailed chipmunk (Tamias ruficaudus, placed by some authorities in the genus Neotamias) is a large, brightly coloured chipmunk of the northern Rocky Mountain region of western North America. It lives in northwestern Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, and its range just reaches southwestern Alberta and the East Kootenay valley of southern British Columbia in Canada. It favours dense coniferous forest, most often in openings and along edges where shrubs grow thickly, and also uses stunted pine and spruce and the margins of mountain meadows. It lives mainly on the ground in burrows and among old logs and rock crevices, but it climbs trees and bushes and does more of its foraging in trees than other chipmunks do. The fur is rufous on the shoulders and sides, deep orange-brown on the back and gray on the rump, with five dark stripes separated by four pale ones. It eats seeds, berries and other fruits and sometimes leaves and flowers, carries food in its cheek pouches and hoards it systematically in caches. It is mainly active from April to October and stays in its burrow on colder days from mid-November to late March. A litter of usually three to eight young is born after a gestation of about a month. The species is abundant in most areas and is rated Least Concern by the IUCN.
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) Relationship to PeopleAgricultural or Structural Pest 1 Living or Extinct Conservation Status Activity Pattern Comparison
NatureServe Rank CITES Appendix Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)
In Biome
Source Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)Geographic Range, AlbertaQuote, Geographic Range, Alberta
just touches extreme southwestern Alberta and the East Kootenay valley of southern British Columbia.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)Geographic Range, British ColumbiaQuote, Geographic Range, British Columbia
just touches extreme southwestern Alberta and the East Kootenay valley of southern British Columbia.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)Geographic Range, IdahoQuote, Geographic Range, Idaho
The red-tailed chipmunk is found in the central Rocky Mountain region of the United States in northwestern Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)Geographic RangeQuote, Geographic Range
The red-tailed chipmunk is found in the central Rocky Mountain region of the United States in northwestern Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)Geographic Range, WashingtonQuote, Geographic Range, Washington
The red-tailed chipmunk is found in the central Rocky Mountain region of the United States in northwestern Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington.
Sources
1. Tamias ruficaudus (Animal Diversity Web)
Conservation Status, IUCN Red List
Least Concern
Food Habits
Their diet includes the seeds of fir trees, honeysuckles, locusts, and cranberries.
Food Habits, Montana
In Montana, the chipmunk eats the fruits and seeds of nine-bark, wild rose, Ponderosa pine, snow brush, serviceberry, big whortleberry, buckbrush, knotweed, grass, huckleberry, mountain maple, and bull thistle.
Food Habits, leaves and flowers
They also eat the leaves and flowers of the dandelion, arnica, currant, balsam-root, glacier lilly, oyster plant, willow herb, and tarweed.
Habitat
This species of chipmunk typically resides in burrows and on the ground, but can climb trees and bushes at times.
Habitat, living population
The red-tailed chipmunk inhabits dense coniferous forests.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
they can do damage by eating planted seed, young forest plantings, and even fruit trees.
Conservation Status, CITES
No special status
Food Habits, feeding times
They feed at discrete times during daylight hours.
Reproduction, longevity record
This particular animal lived for eight years.
Geographic Range, Idaho
The red-tailed chipmunk is found in the central Rocky Mountain region of the United States in northwestern Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington.
Geographic Range, Washington
The red-tailed chipmunk is found in the central Rocky Mountain region of the United States in northwestern Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington.
Geographic Range, Alberta
just touches extreme southwestern Alberta and the East Kootenay valley of southern British Columbia.
Geographic Range, British Columbia
just touches extreme southwestern Alberta and the East Kootenay valley of southern British Columbia.
Child Taxon Of: Neotamias, Physical Description, subgenus
The subgenus Neotamias , to which the red-tailed chipmunk belongs
In Group: Rodents And Lagomorphs, Scientific Classification
Order Rodentia rodents
View the Source2. NatureServe Explorer: Neotamias ruficaudus (NatureServe Explorer)
NatureServe ExplorerConservation status, rounded global rankQuote, Conservation status, rounded global rank
"roundedGRank": "G4"
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