The cliff chipmunk (''Neotamias dorsalis'') is a small, bushy-

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammal ...

ed squirrel that typically lives along cliff walls or boulder fields bordering Pinyon-juniper woodlands in the

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and

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(commonly spotted in northern

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Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

). Cliff chipmunks are very agile, and can often be seen scaling steep cliff walls. Cliff chipmunks do not amass

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as the more common ground squirrel does. They create a "stash" of food which they frequent during the cold winter months. The chipmunks' size varies from 8 to 10 inches, and they weigh an average of 2.5 oz. These small creatures live to a staggering years. The chipmunks are brown on their underside and gray on the back, with white stripes on their face.

Habitat

The cliff chipmunk nests near cliffs in pinyon-juniper woodlands hence its name "cliff chipmunk". They are found at higher altitudes such as 5,000–12,000 ft above sea level. A common destination for spotting the cliff chipmunk is the cliffs of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

. The cliff chipmunk is active mostly during the day, therefore easy to spot. The chipmunk's diet consists of juniper berries, pine seeds, and acorns. 2015-04-28 13 28 28 An older Single-leaf Pinyon and accompanying Utah Juniper on the south wall of Maverick Canyon, Nevada.jpg, Pinyon-juniper woodlands

References

External links

*Venne, Louis
"''Tamias dorsalis'' (cliff chipmunk)"
''Animal Diversity'' ''Web.'' Retrieved 2018-01-10. {{Taxonbar, from1=Q24662786, from2=Q1762104 Neotamias Mammals of the United States Fauna of the Western United States Mammals described in 1855