Eastern Chipmunk

The eastern chipmunk is a small ground-dwelling squirrel native to eastern North America, recognized by the alternating dark and light stripes running down its back and the expandable cheek pouches it uses to carry large quantities of food back to its burrow. It feeds on a wide variety of nuts, seeds, fruit and fungi, caching much of it in underground burrow systems to sustain itself through a winter period of intermittent hibernation known as torpor, during which it periodically wakes to feed on its stores. Eastern chipmunks are generally solitary and territorial, and their extensive burrowing and seed-caching behavior make them important contributors to forest seed dispersal. The species remains common across its range and is classified as being of least concern.