Yellow-pine chipmunk

Last updated

Yellow-pine chipmunk
Yellow Pine Chipmunk.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Neotamias
Species:
N. amoenus
Binomial name
Neotamias amoenus
(J. A. Allen, 1890)
Tamias amoenus distribution map.png
Synonyms

Tamias amoenusJ.A. Allen, 1890

The yellow-pine chipmunk (Neotamias amoenus) is a species of order Rodentia in the family Sciuridae. It is found in parts of Canada and the United States. [2]

Contents

These chipmunks are normally found in brush-covered areas, and in California, they inhabit an elevation range of around 975 to 2,900 meters. [2]

Description

Their body color is dark and reddish, mixed with cinnamon, with five longitudinal dark (black or mixed black) stripes that are separated by four lighter stripes. The outer pair of pale stripes is creamy white and narrower, and the more median pair is a gray or smoke gray. The sides of the head each have three dark stripes, with two lighter in between, and the crown is black or smoke gray. [2]

Males and females have similar brain size and roughly the same tail length, ear length from notch, and length of lower tooth row, but females are larger in other body measurements; average body mass varies, with large males weighing an average of 49.7 g and large females averaging 53.5 g. [2] Though male-biased size sexual dimorphism is common among mammals, N. amoenus exhibits female-biased dimorphism. [3]

In some areas, where range overlap with the least chipmunk or red-tailed chipmunk occurs, it may be difficult or impossible to distinguish the species in the field; laboratory examination of skeletal structures may be required [4] [5]

Feeding

Yellow-pine chipmunks are seed-storing hibernators whose fitness in winter and spring seasons is influenced by the availability of resources and their foraging behaviors in the summer and autumn. [6] Since they do not build body fat before hibernation, their larder, or winter food supply they have built, serves as a measure for their likelihood of survival through the winter, and of their reproductive success come spring. [6] During the warm, active season, the chipmunks gather accessible seeds and scatter-hoard the seeds in various caches, only to retrieve them later for their larder. [6] N. amoenus avoids cache overlap with its loads, and mean nearest-neighbor distance ranges from 1.4–4.9 m; these distances between caches increases the farther N. amoenus gets from its food source. [7]

Reproduction

Both sexes have genital bones; males possess a baculum and females a baubellum. [2] After hibernation, one annual breeding event takes place in late April/early May; male testes sizes are enlarged at this time (bolstered by the warmer temperatures); similarly, enlargement of female ovaries and uteri is also seen. [2] The females are in estrus for one day, and 3 to 5 days prior they make vocalizations, making males aware of their readiness to reproduce and eliciting intrasexual selection among males. [3] The female mates with one or more of the males that has come to her den. [3] The average litter number is around four or five and birth occurs late May/early June; in a litter of six, young are smaller, suggesting physical constraints on the mother; the lactation period lasts about 2 months, and by beginning of September, the young are of comparable size to others in the population. [2] Female reproductive success has been observed to be significantly related to body size, whereas male reproductive success is independent of size. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chipmunk</span> Tribe of mammals (rodent (marmot))

Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of Sciuridae, the squirrel family; specifically, they are ground squirrels (Marmotini). Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viviparous lizard</span> Species of lizard

The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning it gives birth to live young. Both "Zootoca" and "vivipara" mean "live birth", in (Latinized) Greek and Latin respectively. It was called Lacerta vivipara until the genus Lacerta was split into nine genera in 2007 by Arnold, Arribas & Carranza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Least chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The least chipmunk is the smallest species of chipmunk and the most widespread in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoarding (animal behavior)</span> Behavior; storage of food in hidden locations

Hoarding or caching in animal behavior is the storage of food in locations hidden from the sight of both conspecifics and members of other species. Most commonly, the function of hoarding or caching is to store food in times of surplus for times when food is less plentiful. However, there is evidence that a certain amount of caching or hoarding is actually undertaken with the aim of ripening the food so stored, and this practice is thus referred to as ‘ripening caching’. The term hoarding is most typically used for rodents, whereas caching is more commonly used in reference to birds, but the behaviors in both animal groups are quite similar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siberian chipmunk</span> Species of mammal

The Siberian chipmunk, also called common chipmunk, is native to northern Asia from central Russia to China, Korea, and Hokkaidō in northern Japan. It was imported from South Korea and introduced in Europe as a pet in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopi chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The Hopi chipmunk, Neotamias rufus, is a small chipmunk found in Colorado, Utah and Arizona in the southwestern United States. It was previously grouped with the Colorado chipmunk, T. quadrivittatus. This species is listed as "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List as it is common, widespread, and without any major threats. It was last evaluated in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The cliff chipmunk is a small, bushy-tailed squirrel that typically lives along cliff walls or boulder fields bordering Pinyon-juniper woodlands in the Western United States and Mexico. Cliff chipmunks are very agile, and can often be seen scaling steep cliff walls. Cliff chipmunks do not amass body fat as the more common ground squirrel does. They create caches of food which they frequent during the cold winter months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpine chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The alpine chipmunk is a species of chipmunk native to the high elevations of the Sierra Nevada of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray-footed chipmunk</span> Species of rodent in the family Sciuridae

The gray-footed chipmunk is a terrestrial and forest-dwelling species of chipmunk and rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to New Mexico and in the Sierra Diablo and Guadalupe Mountains in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas in the United States. Its natural habitat are coniferous forests. First discovered in 1902, they are distinguished by the unique gray dorsal colouring on the hind feet, hence the common name. They demonstrate sexual dimorphism, and the female is larger than the male.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray-collared chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The gray-collared chipmunk is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to Arizona and New Mexico in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-cheeked chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The yellow-cheeked chipmunk, also known as the redwood chipmunk, is a species of rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It is endemic to areas near the coast of northern California in the United States where it inhabits coastal coniferous forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palmer's chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

Palmer's chipmunk is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae, endemic to Nevada. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is named after Theodore Sherman Palmer, an American botanist and zoologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The Colorado chipmunk is a species of chipmunk in the squirrel family Sciuridae. It is endemic to Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-tailed chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The red-tailed chipmunk is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in Alberta and British Columbia in Canada and Montana, Idaho and Washington in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen's chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

Allen's chipmunk, also known as the shadow chipmunk, is a species of chipmunk native to the western United States. Occurring in California, Oregon, and Nevada, it is a common species of the Sierra Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The Sonoma chipmunk is a species of rodent in the squirrel family Sciuridae. It is endemic to northwestern California in the United States. Members of Neotamias are characterized by having two premolars. N. sonomae has two subspecies: N. s. alleni and N. s. sonomae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lodgepole chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The Lodgepole chipmunk is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in the U.S. state of California at elevations from 1,500 to 3,000 metres. The Lodgepole chipmunk has a variety of common names including: Tahoe chipmunk, Sequoia chipmunk, Mt. Pinos chipmunk, and San Bernardino chipmunk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uinta chipmunk</span> Species of rodent

The Uinta chipmunk or hidden forest chipmunk, is a species of chipmunk in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to the United States. Formerly known as Tamias umbrinus, phylogenetic studies have shown it to be sufficiently distinct from the eastern chipmunk as to be placed in a separate genus, Neotamias. The same studies have also suggested that Palmer's chipmunk may actually be a subspecies of Uinta chipmunk, although the two are still generally regarded as separate species.

<i>Neotamias</i> Genus of rodents

Neotamias is a genus of chipmunks within the tribe Marmotini of the squirrel family. It contains 23 species, which mostly occur in western North America. Along with Eutamias, this genus is often considered a subgenus of Tamias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezo chipmunk</span> Subspecies of mammal

The Ezo chipmunk is a subspecies or local population of the Siberian chipmunk; it is found in what was once known as Ezo, namely Hokkaidō, Japan, and Sakhalin and the Southern Kuriles, Russia.

References

  1. Linzey, A. V. & Hammerson, G. (2008). "Neotamias amoenus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sutton, Dallas (5 June 1992). "Tamias amoenus". Mammalian Species (390): 1–8. doi: 10.2307/3504206 . JSTOR   3504206. S2CID   253932056.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Schulte-Hostedde, Albrecht; Millar, John (December 2002). "Female-Biased Sexual Size Dimorphism in the Yellow-Pine Chipmunk (Tamias Amoenus): Sex-Specific Patterns of Annual Reproductive Success and Survival". Evolution. 56 (12): 2519–29. doi:10.1554/0014-3820(2002)056[2519:fbssdi]2.0.co;2. PMID   12583591. S2CID   198155975.
  4. Nagorsen, David (2005). Rodents and Lagomorphs of British Columbia. Royal BC Museum. p. 182. ISBN   0-7726-5232-5.
  5. Naughton, Donna (2012). The Natural History of Canadian Mammals. Canadian Museum of Nature and University of Toronto Press. pp. 66–67. ISBN   978-1-4426-4483-0.
  6. 1 2 3 Kuhn, Kellie; Vander Wall, Stephen (August 2008). "Linking summer foraging to winter survival in yellow pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus)". Oecologia. 157 (2): 349–360. Bibcode:2008Oecol.157..349K. doi:10.1007/s00442-008-1072-4. PMID   18560900. S2CID   23790830.
  7. Wall, Stephen B. Vander (April 1995). "Sequential Patterns of Scatter Hoarding by Yellow Pine Chipmunks (Tamias amoenus)". American Midland Naturalist. 133 (2): 312–321. doi:10.2307/2426396. JSTOR   2426396.