Images attached to GBIF records (field photographs), from . Open licences; click for the record.
Yellow-pine Chipmunk
Tamias amoenus J.A.Allen, 1890
First described in: Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. vol.3 p.90
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.
These chipmunks are normally found in brush-covered areas, and in California, they inhabit an elevation range of around 975 to 2,900 metres (3,200 to 9,510 ft).
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
activity
Activity patterns. The Yellow-pine Chipmunk is diurnal and hibernates during the winter months, emerging in April. Nests are built in burrows, which are usually under logs, stumps, and rocks, although occasionally a grassy nest built in vegetation is reported. It appears to be more sensitive to temperature extremes than other species of Tamias. Testosterone levels in plasma appearto affect the overwinter survivability of the Yellowpine Chipmunk by reducing levels of glucocorticoid, and thusfat reserves.
Sciuridae
biology_ecology
Habitat. Dry forests in the transition zone, but may inhabit lower areas in the Canadian zone. The Yellow-pine Chipmunk can be found at elevations of up to ¢. 3000 m in the extreme south ofits distribution. It appears to prefer open areas and can be found on meadows with forbs, grasses, and sedges, but also in brushy habitats usually associated with Jeffrey pine (Pinusjeffreyi, Pinaceae) or lodgepole pine (P. contorta). It can be very abundant in degraded areas, such as logged forests, regenerating stands, and clearcuts, and several studies indicated higher capture rates in these areas than in primary or mature forests.
Sciuridae
biology_ecology
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Reported population densities vary 1 - 2 - 7 ind / ha, depending on location and habitat characteristics. The Yellow-pine Chipmunk is territorial and aggressive toward other Tamias species, being sometimes dominant over the Least Chipmunk (7. minimus), but subordinate to Townsend's Chipmunk (7. townsendii). This interaction with other Tamias species may affect the elevational distribution of the Yellow-pine Chipmunk in part of its distribution.
Sciuridae
breeding
Breeding. The Yellow-pine Chipmunk appears to have a promiscuous mating system, with low variability in male mating success. Mating season occurs late April to early May, a few weeks after the end of hibernation. Females produce onelitter per year. Gestation lasts ¢. 28 - 30 days and average litter size is 4 - 5 young, with a maximum of nine. Young weigh ¢. 2 - 6 g. There is strong evidence for sperm competition and little evidence for inbreeding. Young are weaned at c. 6 weeks and reach sexual maturity at c. 1 year.
Sciuridae
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
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. 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 (1.75 oz) and large females averaging 53.5 g (1.89 oz). Though male-biased size sexual dimorphism is common among mammals, N. amoenus exhibits female-biased dimorphism. 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.
What it does
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. 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. 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. N. amoenus avoids cache overlap with its loads, and mean nearest-neighbor distance ranges from 1.4–4.9 m (4.6–16.1 ft); these distances between caches increases the farther N. amoenus gets from its food source.
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Tamias amoenus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 2437430.