by Susan Richardson
“Chip! Chip! Chip!” an Eastern chipmunk calls loudly from atop a tree stump. “Chip! Chip! Chip! Chip!” Suddenly, the chipmunk stops. Camouflaged under the shadows of the trees, he sits still, silent, and alert. His big bright eyes gaze at the areas on each side and above him. His keen ears listen. In a flash, the frightened chipmunk races toward the forest’s edge and disappears down a small hidden hole. He hurries deep into the dark tunnel, or burrow, that is his home. His sensitive whiskers help him find the way. Underground, the chipmunk sits quietly in his long hallway. He built this home himself with his own sharp claws. And he was thinking about safety when he built it. To keep his home as secret as possible, the chipmunk placed his entrance in a patch of wild violets on a slight slope of land. During construction, he was careful to leave no clues, like a mound of dirt, near his front door. The chipmunk has a big stretchy pocket, or pouch, inside each of his cheeks. As he dug out the entrance, tunnels, and rooms of his home, he packed the loose soil into his cheek pouches. When his cheeks became full and bulging, the chipmunk then hauled the dirt to a location far from his building site. With front paws pressed against the sides of his face, he opened his little mouth and dumped the dirt from his cheeks out onto the ground. Then he returned home to continue digging until the next time he needed to haul away dirt. Hawks, foxes, raccoons, and cats are only a few of the animals that will try to eat a chipmunk. Snakes and weasels are small enough to enter a chipmunk’s front door! Fortunately, the chipmunk built his home with two back doors that can be used as emergency exits.
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