Recently, when John Griffin read “How Chipmunk Got His Stripes” to his little girl, he was reminded just how cute the tan-and-black critters are.
In the story, an adaptation of an Iroquois legend, Bear brags that he can stop the sun from rising. When Brown Squirrel, as he is called in the modernized children’s book, won’t stop teasing Bear, Bear swipes at the chatterbox, leaving permanent stripes with his claws.
“It’s meant to instruct people not to make fun of others,” Griffin says. “It’s a very interesting little story.”
What’s also interesting, says Griffin, director of urban wildlife for the Humane Society of the United States, is that people often contact his office about chipmunk sightings, worried the rodents will damage their homes. Nothing could be farther from the truth, he insists.
“We get a lot of calls about chipmunks and it’s actually one of the urban species of wildlife that doesn’t really cause that much of a problem,” says Griffin. “It’s more the perception of what they are doing, because people don’t know. I don’t know of any documented case where a chipmunk burrow has actually caused structural damage.”
Like its squirrel cousin, what this little rodent can do is dig up spring flower bulbs. It can also leave holes in the garden or near sidewalks. Chipmunks are attracted to yards with decks, stone walls and pavers, especially if there are nearby wooded areas or other sources of nuts. Add a bird feeder or two and you’ve got the perfect chipmunk habitat.
“In general, the way we manage our landscape helps chipmunks in many ways,” says Griffin.
While some homeowners freak out at the thought of critters digging elaborate tunnels near their houses, the reality is that the diameter—usually no more than two inches—isn’t large enough to undermine manmade structures or decimate crops, Griffin asserts. The chipmunk’s two-part burrowing system, however, is impressive, with a shallow, sometimes temporary, tunnel leading to a single chamber and a second, more complex network stretching up to 30 feet long, and three feet down, with multiple openings that are usually hidden from humans. Unlike true hibernators, in winter chipmunks fall into a torpor from which they wake every couple of weeks to nibble on the food they’ve stored in their chambers.
They breed twice, once in spring and again in summer, giving birth to four or five babies each time. Although they remain close to home, they aren’t apt to overpopulate like some animals.
“Most people don’t know they are actually there unless they see them physically scurrying across the yard in that kind of happy, joyful way that they do,” Griffin says. “There’s not really a negative consequence to having them around.”
