Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Description:

The Unita chipmunk is a medium sized chipmunk. It is usually 20-24 centimeters long and is an average of 67 grams. The summer coat of the chipmunk varies from a yellowish brown-grey to a dark brown. they have three wide, distinct, blackish-brown stripes that run down their back. they have four pale grey to white stripes separating these stripes. They also have thin stripes down the side of their faces. In the winter they turn a more pale grey color, making the stripes less distinct. Another species that would share its environment is the black bear (ursus, americanus) in the mountains. A symbiotic relationship that the chipmunk has is with an oak tree. The type of symbiosis they share is mutualism. The oak tree gives the chipmunk shelter and seeds and the chipmunk spreads the seeds when it produces waste.Chipmunks have coats that change color in the winter and summer. This helps them be camouflaged to the snow and other parts of their environment during different seasons. Their fur keeps them warm in the winter. They have strong teeth that help them break into hard nuts to eat. They can climb trees which helps keep them safe from predators. Chipmunks use sexual reproduction. Breading season is in the spring. There must be a male and a female who mate to create a fertilized cell that will become another chipmunk. A female chipmunk gives birth to three to five chipmunks after mating.

Habitat:

The chipmunk lives in the mountains in the trees. They are herbivores. It eats seeds of coniferous trees and fruit such as chokecherries and raspberries. They live in their dens that they burrow out under shrubs or rocks or in natural rock crevices. Some predators that eat chipmunks are hawks, owls, red foxes and racoons. When chipmunks eat fruit and seeds they will poop it out somewhere else where another plant can grow. This helps the environment reproduce different kinds of plants.