Chipmunk: The little squirrel with cheek pouches as shopping bags

The chipmunk is one of the forest's busiest little workers: with five dark stripes on its back, it hurries to and fro carrying food back to its burrow. Most amusing is the pair of pouches it can stuff until they bulge — its "shopping bags". Let's meet it.

Its body

The chipmunk is a small ground squirrel that lives in a burrow, and the five dark stripes down its back are its clearest mark. It has a special pair of "cheek pouches" for carrying food. Stuffed to the limit, those pouches can make its head look three times wider, and it can carry dozens of acorns per trip. Its body is small and nimble, darting quickly between branches and the ground.

Where it lives and what it eats

The chipmunk is an omnivore, eating nuts, seeds, mushrooms, eggs and small insects. In autumn it hoards frantically — one burrow may hold thousands of seeds, just what it needs through the lean winter. Curiously, its hibernation is not one long sleep: it wakes every few days, has a snack from the pantry, and goes back to sleep.

Where it is found

Chipmunks are found in the forests of eastern North America and in northern Asia (the Siberian chipmunk). They like to settle where there is thick leaf litter, rocks and fallen logs, since such places are easy to dig in and good for finding food.

A note for grown-ups

You could look with a child at a chipmunk's food-stuffed cheeks, then talk about why it hoards: winter brings no food, so it prepares in advance. Linking an animal's behaviour to the seasons helps a child read the "life wisdom" written into nature.