Description: Charleston Mountain Chipmunks (Neotamias palmeri), also called Palmer's Chipmunks, are small, reddish-brown squirrels with dark and light stripes on the face and on the back. The head and body are about 5-inches long, and the tail is about 4-inches long.
This species only lives at higher elevations in the Spring Mountains (Mt. Charleston area) in the Transition (Yellow Pine Forest), Canadian (Pine-Fir Forest), and Hudsonian (Bristlecone Pine Forest) Life Zones. Genetic studies show that they do not occur in the Pinyon-Juniper Woodland life zone.
In the Las Vegas area, only chipmunks have stripes on the face, and chipmunks are equally at home on the ground and in the trees. |