Homing Strategy of the Eastern Chipmunk,Tamias striatus (Mammalia: Rodentia): Validation of the Critical Distance Model

Fifteen eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus, were displaced and released 500m away from their nest sites, and their eventual behavior was monitored by means of radio-assisted surveillance. As a rule (allowing for some interindividual variability), the chipmunks left the release site area along a relatively straight course, made a U-turn at a median 60 m from the release site, returned closer to the latter and initiated a pattern of systematic search based on relatively straight forays from and back to the release site area. This overall strategy is consistent with the critical distance model of homing, which was originally proposed on the basis of the homing behavior of another sciund, the red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus.