If you haven’t noticed it before, chipmunks tend to disappear as the temperatures drop when we enter into the cold months. They then resurface during March or April when it is spring again. If a particular animal disappears for the winter then you might think that it is hibernating. But what about these guys…Do chipmunks hibernate?

Chipmunks (members of the squirrel family) are not true hibernators but they do enter states of torpor.  Chipmunks retreat to their underground burrows and enter a hibernation type state but wake up every few days to eat and defecate. So, instead of hibernating, you can term chipmunks as ‘light sleepers’.

Of course, this brings up another question: How do chipmunks survive in winter?  Surprisingly enough, chipmunks will use a variety of survival tactics to make it through the cold months. Let’s take a look at what these are and how they help chipmunks survive in the winter.

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