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You’ve seen them - those entertaining and occasionally annoying little striped rodents that resurface each spring. They often hang around popular trails, campgrounds and picnic areas looking for a handout. Most people will tell you that the brazen little striped squirrels out to steal your lunch are chipmunks, but that might not be the case.

Colorado has seven species that could meet this description. They’re not all chipmunks! Two are ground squirrels. Colorado’s striped seven include the golden mantled ground squirrel, thirteen-lined ground squirrel, Colorado chipmunk, Hopi chipmunk, Uinta chipmunk, cliff chipmunk and the least chipmunk.

How can one possibly distinguish these animals from one another? Start with the face. Chipmunks have stripes on their faces; ground squirrels do not! The ground squirrels have a white ring round their eyes, but no facial stripes.
 
How can you identify chipmunks? Chipmunks are small, about eight inches long and weighing around two ounces. That’s two high energy ounces with enough antics to make them a favorite of film animators. They dart around with spirited speed and puts you at a disadvantage when trying to look for the small features that distinguish each of the five species from one another.
 
The best clue is to think about where you are. Many of the areas in Colorado have just one species of chipmunk. The least chipmunk lives over most of central and western Colorado. The Uinta chipmunk also lives in the central mountains. The Colorado chipmunk ranges from southern Colorado northward along the Front Range foothills to almost Wyoming. The Hopi chipmunk is found on the Colorado Plateau. The cliff chipmunk occurs in northwestern Colorado.

Least chipmunks are the smallest and most common of the state’s chipmunks. They have three dark and two light stripes on the face and five dark and four light stripes along their back and sides. The middle back stripe runs to the end of the tail. Uinta chipmunks and Colorado chipmunks overlap the range of the least chipmunk and each other. The best way to distinguish them is to look at the stripes on the back. Colorado chipmunks have dark stripes that are mostly black while the Uinta chipmunk has stripes that are brownish. Colorado chipmunks also have a very distinct black central back stripe and have a small dark stripe under the lowest pale stripe. Uinta chipmunks often have distinctive white dots on their ears.

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Once you’ve determined you have a ground squirrel, it’s easy to identify the species. The thirteen-lined ground squirrel and golden mantled ground squirrel are radically different in appearance, size and habitat.

Thirteen-lined ground squirrels (pictured above) really do have 13 stripes - seven dark stripes separated by six lighter ones. They are small, about 10 inches long and weighing half a pound. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels live in short grasslands and weedy areas. This squirrel needs to see over the top of the grass when it stands on its hind legs. They adapt well to both agriculture and urban development and are most likely the little striped squirrel you might see at golf courses, parks, roadside picnic areas and vacant lots.

Golden-mantled ground squirrels are a bit larger, about one foot long and about ¾ pound. Their head and shoulders are a coppery red, forming the namesake “golden mantle.” These squirrels have grayish-brown fur on the back with two white stripes bordered by black stripes on each side. Golden-mantled ground squirrel are found in coniferous and mixed forests in mountainous areas up to timberline. Hikers may encounter these or chipmunks.

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 How can you identify chipmunks? Chipmunks are small, about eight inches long and weighing around two ounces. That’s two high energy ounces with enough antics to make them a favorite of film animators. They dart around with spirited speed and puts you at a disadvantage when trying to look for the small features that distinguish each of the five species from one another.
 
The best clue is to think about where you are. Many of the areas in Colorado have just one species of chipmunk.  

• The cliff chipmunk occurs in northwestern Colorado.
• The Hopi chipmunk is found on the Colorado Plateau. 
• Least chipmunks are the smallest and most common of the state’s chipmunks. They have three dark and two light stripes on the face and five dark and four light stripes along their back and sides. The middle back stripe runs to the end of the tail. The least chipmunk lives over most of central and western Colorado.
• Uinta chipmunks and Colorado chipmunks overlap the range of the least chipmunk and each other. The best way to distinguish them is to look at the stripes on the back. Colorado chipmunks have dark stripes that are mostly black while the Uinta chipmunk has stripes that are brownish. Colorado chipmunks also have a very distinct black central back stripe and have a small dark stripe under the lowest pale stripe. Uinta chipmunks often have distinctive white dots on their ears. The Uinta chipmunk also lives in the central mountains. The Colorado chipmunk ranges from southern Colorado northward along the Front Range foothills to almost Wyoming.