Colorado Chipmunk (Neotamias quadrivittatus) lives in rocky mountain terrain across Southwestern North America. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Colorado Chipmunk
- In the northern Front Range the chipmunk sticks to open woodlands between 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and 2,100 m (6,900 ft), a band forced by competition with the higher-elevation Uinta chipmunk, while farther south it climbs to 3,200 m (10,500 ft) where the Uinta is absent. This split shows how a single species can occupy very different altitude zones simply because a rival blocks part of its preferred range, illustrating the fine balance of mountain community dynamics.
- When autumn arrives, Colorado chipmunks stash food underground, building caches that let them stay below the snow and avoid foraging in the freezing winter. Their diet, seeds, berries, flowers and insects, especially mountain mahogany, prickly-pear, juniper berries, currants, wild cherries and snowberry, fills those stores. By hoarding, they not only survive the cold.
- Three subspecies of Colorado chipmunk are officially recognized, each tied to a distinct mountain range: N. q. australis lives in New Mexico's Organ Mountains, N. q. oscuraensis inhabits the Oscura Mountains, and N. q. quadrivittatus spreads across Colorado, northern New Mexico, northern Arizona and eastern Utah.
- Weighing about 62 grams (2.2 oz), the Colorado chipmunk is the biggest of the three chipmunk species that share the Colorado Front Range, yet males and females look the same.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeSouthwestern North America
HabitatRocky mountain terrain
DietSeeds and nuts
About the Colorado Chipmunk
In the sun-drenched rocky outcrops of the American West, the Colorado chipmunk darts and weaves with an air of frenetic purpose, its striped back a blur as it scurries through the scrubby undergrowth in search of seeds and nuts to stash away in its hidden caches. With a twitch of its whiskers and a flick of its bushy tail, this diminutive rodent navigates its arid domain with a nimbleness that belies its stocky build, its paws barely making a sound on the dry earth. As it pauses to survey its surroundings, its bright, inquisitive eyes shine like dark jewels in the sunlight, illuminating a spirit that is at once both cautious and intrepid.
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