Some animals sleep all winter. A Peek Inside a Chipmunk Burrow Posted on March 19, 2015 May 31, 2016 by Meg Sodano While creating my chipmunk character this winter, I have learned a whole lot about their natural history and behavior. People live in warm houses. During warm months, they spend most of their waking time gathering food and storing it in their burrows. The four seasons include Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The following is a list of 15 animals that hibernate along with their characteristics: 1. Underneath this bedding, it hides nuts and seeds for winter. Other animals stay active in winter. If not in the wild, chipmunks can be easily recognized as Chip and Dale, two cartoon characters created by Walt Disney. While chipmunks in general are not true hibernators, they tend to remain in their underground chambers during the winter months. Chipmunks. Chipmunk, any of 25 species of small, striped, terrestrial squirrels with large internal cheek pouches. Although these little rodents hibernate, they don't spend the entire winter in a deep sleep. The sleeping quarters are kept clear of shells, and feces are stored in refuse tunnels. This is a hallmark of chipmunks. Chipmunk hibernation is a little bit of a misnomer; the chipmunk is not a true hibernator because during winter it occasionally eats food from its underground caches during … During winter, chipmunks mostly stay in their burrows. Eventually spring will arrive, and with it the chipmunks come, ready to eat. You might mistake these tiny creatures for a baby squirrel. While they do enter torpor during the winter, they rouse every few days and trot down a dark corridor to their larder to eat. In just one week, a squirrel can eat as much in food as his entire body weight. Unlike woodchucks (our other ground squirrel), chipmunks do not toddle off to hibernate swathed in fat. It is a very deep sleep called hibernation. The eastern chipmunk hibernates in the winter, while western chipmunks do not, relying on the stores in their burrows. They reach adulthood in about 90 days. Bears and chipmunks hibernate. Chipmunks hibernate in winter, but they don’t sleep all the way through the season.They retreat to their burrows but wake every few days, raise their body temperatures to normal and feed on stored food. What do animals do? So do frogs, snakes and even some bugs. Every few days, they awaken, their body temperature rises to about 94 degrees, and they eat some of the food stored in their burrow. That can help the nuts and seeds it does not eat grow into plants. Unlike bears, chipmunks must eat, urinate and defecate during hibernation, which they do during these active cycles. Woodchucks, she says, pay less attention to chipmunk alarms, presumably because, at up to 12 pounds, they are so much bigger and need not fear as many predators as chipmunks do. However they may become mature at least after passing first winter hibernation. Winter is one of the four seasons. As people are having one slice of pumpkin pie too many, squirrels are also preparing for winter by eating quite a lot. Winter is cold. By Caroline Chen, BNRC’s Miss Halls Horizons Intern Chipmunks hibernate in winter, but they don’t sleep all the way through the season. Winter begins on the Winter Solstice. There is snow on the ground. Everything that is available is fair game. At birth young chipmunks average 64 mm (2.5 in) in length while they weigh up to 2-3 g (0.1 oz). Chipmunks are known for their expansive cheek pouches in which they can carry large amounts of food. Chipmunks make use of specially adapted internal cheek pouches as a method of carrying food around. When chipmunks are in […] Chipmunks are omnivores and spend their days collecting food stores for the winter months. Chipmunks do hibernate. There are 25 species of chipmunks. In the Northern Hemisphere (live above the equator) this happens in December around the 21 st.; In you live in the Southern Hemisphere (live below the equator) this happens in June. Winter Facts for Kids. Food is also very important to squirrels during the winter. We need you to answer this question! They retreat to their burrows and wake every few days to raise their body temperatures to normal, feed on stored food rather than fat reserves, and urinate and defecate. Chipmunks construct extensive burrows which can be more than 3.5 m (11 ft) in length with several well-concealed entrances. The extra fat from these meals helps squirrels survive even the coldest temperatures. They have prominent eyes and ears, a furry tail, and delicate claws. The average lifespan of the eastern chipmunk is 3 years in the wild but the captive animal may live up to 8 years. Chipmunks are diurnal animals, meaning that they're active during the day and sleep at night. Chipmunks are largely solitary creatures that live mostly in underground chipmunk holes known as burrows.