The Siberian chipmunk is a small chipmunk with five dark stripes down its back, and it's the only chipmunk that lives outside North America—its home is the forests of northern Asia, including Korea and northern Japan. It doesn't live in the wild in the US. Pet chipmunks shipped from South Korea between the 1960s and 1980s escaped and now live wild in parts of Europe.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A small chipmunk, 7–10 in (18–25 cm) long including the tail, weighing 1.8–5.3 oz (50–150 g). It's yellowish to brown above with five dark and four light stripes down the back, and white underneath.
- Voice
- When startled it gives a quick, bird-like "cheep," often repeated three to six times.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Conifer forests
- Mixed woodlands
- Rocky areas
- Shrubland
- Range
- Native to northern Asia: northern European Russia, Siberia, Sakhalin, northern Mongolia, northern and central China, Korea, and Hokkaido in Japan. Introduced populations live in several European countries, including France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. It is not found wild in the US.
- Preferred conditions
- Lives mostly on the forest floor where there's good cover, often near rocky outcrops, and digs burrows up to about 8 ft (2.5 m) long.
Behavior
- Diet
- Mostly seeds and nuts, plus grain, fruit, mushrooms, insects, and occasionally bird eggs or small reptiles. It carries food in its cheek pouches and stores it in its burrow.
- Activity
- Active by day. In winter it sleeps in its burrow but wakes every few weeks to eat from its food stash.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- Spring, starting around mid-April after hibernation; some females raise a second litter in summer.
- Gestation
- 28–35 days
- Litter size
- 3–8 young
- Lifespan
- 2–5 years in the wild; up to about 10 years in captivity
Cautions
- Cautions
- Like many rodents, it can carry ticks infected with Lyme disease bacteria; a study near Paris found introduced chipmunks carried more infected ticks than native rodents.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Often listed as Tamias sibiricus, which places it in the same genus as the eastern chipmunk. Others put it in its own genus, Eutamias.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- Since 2016 the European Union has listed it as an invasive species of concern, banning import, breeding, sale, and release.
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