General Chipmunk Information:

Chipmunk is the common name for any small squirrel-like rodent species of the genus Tamias in the family Sciuridae. Tamias is Latin for "storer," a reference to the animals' habit of collecting and storing food for winter use. Twenty-five species belong to this family, with one species in northeastern Asia, one in eastern North America, and the rest native to western North America. The name originally may have been spelled "chitmunk" (from the Odawa word jidmoonh, meaning "red squirrel"; c.f. Ojibwe, ajidamoo). However, the earliest form cited in the Oxford English Dictionary (from 1842) is "chipmonk". Other early forms include "chipmuck" and "chipminck", and in the 1830s they were also referred to as "chip squirrels," possibly in reference to the sound they make. They are also called "striped squirrels" or "ground squirrels," though the name "ground squirrel" more often refers to the genus Spermophilus. Tamias and Spermophilus are only two of the 13 genera of ground-living Sciurids.

General Chipmunk appearance:

Chipmunks are easily recognized by the light and dark stripes on the back and head. They can be confused with some of the striped ground squirrels, but chipmunks are smaller, bear facial markings, and have five dark stripes on their backs, including a distinct, central line that extends forward onto the head. Ground squirrels do not have markings on the head.