We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.Īndrea Wishart, PhD Student in Animal Behaviour, Ecology, and Evolution, University of Saskatchewan Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.Īnd since curiosity has no age limit - adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. If you aren’t sure what species you have, that’s OK! Other experts can help identify your animal from the picture. You can help scientists see where different animals live! Take photos of your backyard visitors and ask a grown-up to upload them to iNaturalist. Never feed wildlife from your hands, for your safety and the safety of the animal. This chipmunk is found in brushy areas in. (Shutterstock)īring the food inside at night so you don’t attract other wildlife like skunks or raccoons. If you find an injured or orphaned squirrel, chipmunk or marmot, click here. These are called adaptations.Ī grey squirrel and its nest in a tree in winter. The chipmunk is a small, brownish, ground-dwelling squirrel more closely related to ground squirrels than to tree squirrels. Look for a small sprightly ground squirrel about the size of an orange, with a small stocky and muscular body, a white underbelly and a furry tail. Different behaviours, shapes and body functions can help increase the chance that they will survive and reproduce in their different habitats. Members of the squirrel family live around the world on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Distant cousins indeed! Adaptations help animals be successful ground squirrels (sometimes nicknamed “gophers,” but true gophers belong to a different family called Geomyidae).Ĭhipmunks and squirrels are like distant cousins whose most recent common ancestor lived a very long time ago - over 20 million years ago.marmots (also called groundhogs or woodchucks).All in the familyĬhipmunks and squirrels, which are actually “tree squirrels,” are members of the same family called Sciuridae (sigh-YUR-i-dee), which includes: Chipmunks may be classified either as a single genus, Tamias, or as three genera: Tamias, of which the eastern chipmunk (T. The first question to ask is whether or not these chipmunks and squirrels are closely related. Scientists called “evolutionary ecologists” study how living things relate to each other and their environments ( ecology) and how these relationships might have influenced what living things look like and how they behave over time ( evolution). What drives one to nestle in an underground burrow and another to nest in the branches of a tree has a lot to do with two things: family history and how its body works. Tree squirrels are adept climbers with large, bushy tails, long ears, and sharp. Why do chipmunks live on the ground but squirrels live in trees? - Audrey, 7, Kingston, Ont.Īnimals show us that there are many places to make a home. Ground squirrels are generally robust and tend to be well adapted for burrowing. This article was originally published in.
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