Tennessee’s occurrence record for the eastern chipmunk is one of the largest in the state’s mammal atlas, 1,604 records in all, backed by heavy documentation on both iNaturalist and GBIF.
Cheek pouches from the Smokies to the Mississippi bluffs
This chipmunk digs a burrow system, stuffs its cheek pouches with nuts and seeds gathered by day, and gives a sharp, repeated alarm call from cover when a hawk or a cat passes by. Tennessee’s records run from the high forest of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest in the east all the way to Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park’s bluffs above the Mississippi River in the far west, covering nearly the entire east-to-west span of the state.
A burrow needs shelter and food close together
It needs feeding ground and secure shelter, downed logs, brush piles, stone walls, right next to each other, which is why deciduous forest with a cluttered understory suits it better than open, manicured ground. Reports climb sharply each spring, peaking in April and May, when new litters are dispersing and looking for burrow sites of their own.
Status in Tennessee
NatureServe ranks the eastern chipmunk S5, Secure, and lists it as native to Tennessee. USGS NAS doesn’t list it as nonindigenous in the state.
