Uinta Chipmunk (Neotamias umbrinus) lives in mountain forests across Western North America. It feeds on seeds and nuts. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Uinta Chipmunk
- Adult Uinta chipmunks measure just 20-24 cm long, with tails adding another 7-11 cm, and they tip the scales at about 67 g. Their summer coat yellow-brown to dark brown, marked by three bold blackish-brown stripes down the back and matching pale stripes on the face. In winter the fur dulls and the striping fades, while the ears stay black and the underparts turn a very pale grey.
- Uinta chipmunks inhabit montane and subalpine forests between 1,400 m and 3,650 m (4,590-11,980 ft) elevation, favoring pine-fir edges, clearings, and steep rocky slopes. In northeastern Colorado they swap places with Colorado chipmunks at roughly 2,100 m (6,900 ft), where the higher-elevation zones belong to Uinta chipmunts.
- Seven subspecies of Uinta chipmunk are recognized, ranging from southern Utah and northern Arizona to central Nevada, eastern California, western Wyoming, western Colorado, and possibly extinct populations in southern Nevada. This patchy distribution perhaps reflects fragmented forest cover dating back to the Pleistocene, suggesting that past changes during the Pleistocene may have created isolated pockets where each subspecies could evolve separately.
- Each Uinta chipmunk defends a personal territory of 2-5 ha (4.9-12.4 acres), living alone and staying active by day. They dig burrows under rocks, shrubs, or in hollow logs, and spend winter months deep inside these shelters. Their diet leans heavily on conifer seeds, Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, juniper, spruce, plus wild rose, raspberry, and chokecherry fruits, with occasional grass, fungi, insects, or carrion.
- Breeding runs from late April to early June, with a gestation of about 30 days producing three to five pups. The young are weaned at roughly 25 days and soon leave the burrow, but only 27.5 % survive the winter, and most live no longer than two years.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeWestern North America
HabitatMountain forests
DietSeeds and nuts
About the Uinta Chipmunk
In the sun-drenched rocky outcrops of the Uinta Mountains, a diminutive, yet fiercely resilient creature darts through the scrubby undergrowth, its tawny fur fluffed against the chill of the high altitude air. The Uinta chipmunk, with its striped back and twitching whiskers, is a master of this rugged realm, its nimble paws barely touching the ground as it scurries from boulder to boulder in search of seeds and nuts to cache away in its hidden burrows. As it moves, the chipmunk's bright, inquisitive eyes seem to drink in every detail of its surroundings, its very existence a testament to the enduring power of life in this harsh, beautiful landscape.
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