February 21, 2010 - Chipmunk Wake Up

Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Despite the holiday antics of Alvin and his brothers, real chipmunks have been absent during the winter. After several months of sleeping in a cozy, warm bed of dried grasses and leaves, waking occasionally to stretch and eat a snack from the storeroom, eastern chipmunks are ready to venture outside their burrows. These small squirrels with black-and-white racing stripes on their face and back depend on stored food to survive the cold. They sleep and wake throughout the winter only to emerge into a world they haven’t seen in months, not knowing what they will find. If the weather is harsh and food is buried under snow and ice, then it’s back to the warmth and comfort of the burrow to sleep a little longer. If the weather is mild, then it’s time to explore and search for food and a mate.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.