There are at least four species of chipmunks native to the area covered by this book. Ordinarily but one, or perhaps two, species of a genus have been chosen for discussion. In this case, however, the chipmunks are such provocative little creatures and their presence causes so much interest that all four species will be included, although briefly. Since the ranges and life zones of some of them overlap in many areas, positive identification of a species will be difficult in those places, but in others one species will be dominant or alone. Here the more subtle characteristics and behavior of that type can be fixed in mind, and in time it will be less difficult to separate one from the other. Remember that most of these species have several subspecies. These generally occur along the upper or lower edges of the life zone frequented by the type. In the field they are usually indistinguishable from the type to any but the most practiced observer.
1. Colorado chipmunk (Eutamias quadrivittatus)
Colorado chipmunk
Range: Northern Arizona, northern New Mexico, most of Utah, and all but the most northern portion of Colorado. This chipmunk lives largely in the Transition Life Zone. The closely related species umbrinus, commonly called “Uinta chipmunk” inhabits the Canadian and Hudsonian Life Zones in the Uinta and Wasatch Mountains of northeastern Utah.
Colorado
Uinta chipmunk
