CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Their expandable cheek pouches allow chipmunks to carry not only nuts and seeds but also dirt and leaves for excavating their burrows. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 49
trail to his burrow. He knows enough to gather and store pounds of nuts and seeds for the torpor of his underground winter season. Some chipmunk knowledge is trial and error, as when, at eight weeks old, he leaves the subterranean maternal nest to explore the sunny world on his own. But most knowledge in his little three-ounce body is the result of instinct’s impulse – such as the astonishing use of his face as, well, a shopping cart.
Last month, with winter over, “I began seeing chipmunks with full pouches,” said Wes Gillingham of Catskill Mountainkeeper in Youngsville. “I was taking a walk in the woods and stopped to watch a chipmunk, whose pouch definitely made him look top heavy.” Gillingham pointed out that chipmunks dine largely on tree crops like acorns, beechnuts, black cherry pits and seeds. So their expandable
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