Jeanie Dunaway, age 11, of Fordsville, y., for her question:
Why do chipmunks have stripes?
What makes you notice a sassy little chipmunk? Chances are the busy little fellow was darting around and probably chirruping to get your attention. For, if he stayed quite still, it is almost certain that you would not see him at all. His furry coat is planned to blend right in with a background of earth, stones and fallen leaves.
This is Mother Natures way of protecting her helpless little children from their enemies. It is called protective coloration and there is a fine article about it in Volume III of your gift encyclopedia. There are also some lovely colored pictures which show how it works.
When Mother Nature does a fob, she always does it with beauty. The chipmunk needs a coat of mixed browns to blend with his background. But Mother Nature does not throw these colors on his back all blotched and higgledy piggledy. Oh no, they are arranged in very neat order. It so happens that stripes down the back were chosen to be the proper uniform for the chipmunk. This, you must admit, makes him a very handsome fellow. Whatts more, a coat of wide stripes seems to go with his gay and sassy nature.
Look around and you will see that most creatures who live on the ground wear tones of brown. But always the browns are arranged in graceful designs. The grouse and the woodcock wear speckled browns. The sandpiper is a blend of light browns to match his sandy beach. A baby fawn is dappled with darker brown spots which resemble the shadows of leaves. When these creatures stay quite still you pass right by without seeing them.
Suppose the chipmunk were all one even color. He would stand out like a solid lump against his background. He blends best when his color is broken into patches of light and dark browns. For you, the sassy little fellow comes out of hiding, hoping for a present. He is too small for man to hunt as game. He knows this and is not afraid of you. But he lives in constant fear of the hungry, meat‑eating animals.
By remaining quite still, he can often fool a hawk, a stoat or even a bobcat. There is an endless variety of chipmunks in North America. Mainly there are two groups, the Eastern and the Western chipmunks. The eastern cousin has two light stripes down his back and three dark stripes. His Western cousin has four light stripes and five dark. The biggest darkest chipmunk is a Westerner who lives in the forested coastal regions of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. The smallest chipmunk is also a Westerner. He is a pales sandy follow, eight inches long, who lives in the Bad Lands of Dakota.
All chipmunks, of course, are really miniature squirrels. Whether he has five stripes or nine, whether his browns are light or dark, each little cousin is sure to blend perfectly with the ground on which he lives.