In California, the least chipmunk belongs to the eastern Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin country beyond it, and its records show that clearly. Mono County holds 56 of the state’s 82 records and Inyo County another 12, with only ones and twos from Mariposa, Alpine, Shasta, Tuolumne, Nevada, Plumas, and Lassen counties.
Inyo National Forest accounts for 22 records, Yosemite National Park for 3, and the White Mountains Wilderness for 2. That’s sagebrush flats, pinyon and juniper slopes, and open pine forest on the dry side of the range, ground North America’s smallest chipmunk shares with several larger relatives.
All 82 records come through GBIF and none from iNaturalist, so the spread reflects where mammal surveys have worked as much as where the chipmunk actually lives. Records start in spring, climb in June, and stay high through September before dropping away as snow arrives and the chipmunk spends the cold months underground.
Full species profile
