Squirrels vs. chipmunks

Principio del formulario

Squirrels vs. Chipmunks

Difference between Squirrels and Chipmunks

When you are out walking in nature you may catch a glimpse of a rodent or two. The random fuzzymammal you encounter would generally be a squirrel or possibly a chipmunk. They both belong to the rodent family. There are some similarities between these animals as far as the family that they belongto. However there are many things that hold them apart as completely different animals. The way they look, what they eat, hibernation habits, are a few things that holds them apart as individualsamong the rodent family.
|[pic] |[pic] |
|Photo by law_keven|Photo by Gilles Gonthier |

Eating Habits

Being in the rodent family they both have four sharp incisor teeth along with flat teeth in theback to help in grinding harder foods such as nuts. They also have 4 four toes on the front feet and five on the back.Although they eat the same foods, mostly nuts, berries, seeds, mushrooms, bird eggsand nuts, squirrels simply eat their fill and will store the rest away someplace for later consumption. Chipmunks have special pouches in their cheeks that they can store food in while they areforaging. Chipmunks burrow tunnels underground which are used for hoarding food for later use.

Hibernation

While squirrels are true hibernators, chipmunks are not. A squirrel like many hibernatinganimals will eat a large amount of food to build up enough fat to live on during the winter months. A chipmunk on the other hand will store food in tunnel within its underground burrow to eat during thelong winter months. Often chipmunks stay underground during the winter but remain somewhat active.

Appearance

Probably the greatest difference between squirrels and chipmunks are the looks....