![chipmunk vs ground squirrel chipmunk vs ground squirrel](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/fallenleaflake-150602130556-lva1-app6891/95/fallen-leaf-lake-12-638.jpg)
They can also cause property damage, gnawing through electrical wiring or overturning bird feeders. Squirrels are opportunistic, making use of all sources of food and shelter available to them. Chipmunks, however, do hibernate and slowly feed on their cached food supply during the winter.ĭid you know? Squirrels cache hundreds to thousands of nuts and seeds throughout the forest each year. Squirrels do not hibernate, but they often remain in their nests in cold or stormy weather, venturing out when they need to find food, which they often have cached near their nests. The seeds and nuts they do not dig up germinate in the spring and become trees, aiding in forest regeneration. Gray squirrels have a highly developed spatial memory and will recover 40 to 80 percent of their caches. Some species such as gray squirrels scatter their caches, while others like chipmunks and red squirrels cache their bounty in a more centralized location and protect it. Squirrels and chipmunks cache food items that they later dig up and eat when food resources are low. Most species are also very vocal to express alarm and aggression. They have keen eyesight with very good depth perception, helping them judge distance as they leap from branch to branch. Tree squirrels and chipmunks are diurnal or crepuscular while flying squirrels are nocturnal. They and all other native tree squirrels and chipmunks are protected in Washington. Their decline is attributed to habitat loss, highway mortality, disease, competition with non-native squirrels and loss of genetic diversity. The Western Gray Squirrel (Sciurus griseus) is now the least common squirrel seen in Washington and is listed as threatened in the state. Introduced into the Seattle area in the early 1900s, it has become well established in cities and suburbs. The most common tree squirrel in Western Washington is the non-native Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Washington State is home to nine of these species-seven native species: Western Gray Squirrel, Douglas Squirrel, Red Squirrel, Northern Flying Squirrel, Least Chipmunk, Townsend’s Chipmunk, and the Yellow-pine Chipmunk and two non-native or introduced species: Eastern Gray Squirrel and the Eastern Fox Squirrel. Over 30 species of tree squirrel and chipmunk are widely distributed across North America.
![chipmunk vs ground squirrel chipmunk vs ground squirrel](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/peanuts-or-else-lori-deiter.jpg)
Chipmunks, however, spend the majority of their time on the ground but are capable of climbing trees. Tree squirrels separate themselves from other members of the squirrel family because they live mostly among trees and not in burrows like ground squirrels.
![chipmunk vs ground squirrel chipmunk vs ground squirrel](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/thirteen-lined-ground-squirrel-also-known-as-striped-gopher-leopard-squinney-can-be-found-grasslands-north-31925721.jpg)
They are frequently seen in urban areas and city parks. Tree squirrels and chipmunks are some of the most familiar members of the rodent order.