Chipmunk

You are likely to spot a chipmunk at some period of time, probably during the summer when they are out and about, gathering supplies for the winter.  You probably won’t be able to watch it for long though, because they are always on the move, and will likely notice you before you notice them!

During the summer, a chipmunk spends a lot of its time gathering nuts and seeds, and storing them up for the winter.  If a chipmunk discovers a corn cob, a pile of seeds, or some other source of food, it has enough room in the pouches of its cheeks that it could probably cram in ten or twelve corn kernels.  But rather than just trying to stuff in as many as it could, the chipmunk is so orderly and neat, that it carefully organizes and places each kernel.  In so doing, it is able to carry about thirty corn kernels in each trip!  It is important for chipmunks to carry as much as possible in each trip, so as to minimize the amount of times it enters and exits its home.  Otherwise, watchful predators could be able to find the chipmunk’s home and then lay in wait to catch it.

Chipmunks are very tidy and orderly.  If some of their food starts to rot or get moldy, they immediately take it out and dispose of it.  They keep a separate room as their bathroom, and change the grass or straw bedding as soon as it is soiled.  That way they avoid a foul smell which could also inform hungry predators as to the whereabouts of the chipmunk’s home.

I think we can all learn a valuable lesson from a chipmunk about keeping our rooms (and houses!) clean and tidy.  The chipmunk has to be clean and orderly to survive.  We don’t have to in order to survive, but it does feel much nicer when you walk into a tidy bedroom, doesn’t it?