Homing Behavior of Chipmunks in Central New York

Abstract

Homing movements ranging from about 150 to 700 yards have been recorded for Tamias by Seton (life histories of northern animals, vol. 1: 341, 1909), Allen (Bull. N. Y. State Mus., 314: 87, 1938), Burt (Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mich., 45: 45, 1940), and Hamilton (American mammals, p. 283, 1939). While engaged in other studies during the summer of 1952, I had the opportunity of making additional observations on the homing behavior of the eastern chipmunk, Tamias striatus lysteri (Richardson), on the campus of Cornell University at Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York. Live-trapping was conducted from July 26 to August 3 in a tract of approximately 3 acres of hemlock and mixed hardwood forest bordering a small artificial lake. A maximum of 12 traps was employed. The chipmunks taken were sexed, aged (subadult or adult), marked by clipping patches of fur on various parts of the body, and transported in a cloth bag to one of six release points. The latter were situated in similar continuous habitat or in an area of campus buildings, lawns, shrubbery, and widely spaced trees adjacent to the woodland. An individual was considered as having homed when it was …