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| Chipmunk Temporal range: Early Miocene to Recent | |
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| Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Xerinae |
| Tribe: | Marmotini Illiger, 1811 |
A chipmunk is a small squirrel-like rodent. It is in the Sciuridae family. About twenty-three species fall under this title, with one species in North America.
The name may have originally been spelled "chitmunk" (perhaps from a Native American word meaning "red squirrel"). However, the earliest form comes from the Oxford English Dictionary (in 1842) as "chipmonk". Other early forms include "chipmuck" and "chipminck".
Chipmunks are hoarders, meaning they store food for winter.
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