Home >> Science & Nature >> Animals & Science

Classification of Squirrels and Chipmunks

Squirrels are small rodents with bushy tails that are found all over the world. The only locations where they are not native are Antarctica, Australia and Madagascar. There are three main types of squirrels: tree squirrels, ground squirrels and flying squirrels. A chipmunk is a small squirrel that has a bushy tail and a striped body. Both squirrels and chipmunks are mammals that share many of the same scientific classifications or categories. These categories are divided into order, family, subfamily, genus and species.

Order
- Squirrels and chipmunks belong to the scientific order Rodentia, which consists of different types of rodents. Rodents are distinguished by a pair of long teeth, or incisors, on their upper and lower jaws. Since these incisors grow throughout a rodent's life, a rodent must continually gnaw on hard objects to trim its teeth. The gnawing behavior of rodents resonates in the word "rodent," which is derived from a Latin word, rodere, which means "to gnaw."
Family
- The Sciuridae family is one of 31 families that make up the order Rodentia. Squirrels are closely related to chipmunks, prairie dogs and marmots, since all of these animals are categorized within the Sciuridae family. Marmots, such as the groundhog or woodchuck, are burrowing rodents. The name "Sciuridae" is a Latin term with origins in Greek words that mean "shadow tail." The name "shadow tail" refers to how squirrels sit in their tail's shadow.
Subfamilies
- According to "Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide" by Richard W. Thorington Jr. and Katie Ferrell, the family Sciuridae is divided into five subfamilies: Sciurillinae, Sciurinae, Ratufinae, Callosciurinae and Xerinae. The subfamily Sciurillinae contains the pygmy tree squirrels of South America. Tree squirrels and flying squirrels of North America, northern Asia, Europe and South America (except the pygmy tree squirrel), belong to the subfamily Sciurinae. In the subfamily Ratufinae are the four species of giant tree squirrels from Southeast Asia. A group of tree squirrels from southern Asia make up the subfamily Callosciurinae. The last subfamily, Xerinae, includes the African tree, bush, and ground squirrels, as well as ground squirrels, chipmunks and marmots from North America and Eurasia.
Genera and Species
- Chipmunks are members of the genus Tamias. There are 25 species of chipmunks in the world. All of the chipmunk species, except the Tamias sibiricus of Asia, live in North America. A well-known genus of squirrels in North America is the genus Sciurus, which contains common tree squirrels. The eastern fox squirrel and the eastern gray squirrel both belong to the genus Sciurus. According to "Squirrels" by Lauren Diemer, there are about 230 species of ground and tree squirrels and 43 species of flying squirrels in the world.

Animals & Science