The squirrel family (Sciuridae) is represented by quite a few species around the Lake: two of marmots, one tree squirrel, two ground squirrels, one flying squirrel, and one (maybe two) chipmunks. Only the chipmunks and the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel sport stripes. Below, I show a picture of each seen on May 1st in the sub-alpine forest high above the Lake.
A curious aspect of having two types of squirrels with stripes are the websites (usually touristy ones) which show a picture of a ground squirrel but label it as a chipmunk (the two aren’t even in the same genus). I wondered: How could this happen? Then it struck me: The construction of such sites is contracted to web designers who obtain their images from stock-photo services. So, I tested the idea by typing the word, chipmunk, into the search engines of a few different stock-photo websites. Yep, therein lies the source of the problem: a substantial number of the pictures labeled as chipmunks on such sites aren’t. It may be that a stock-image company isn’t such a reliable source of biological information.
A Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel is about four times the weight of a chipmunk. Stripes only appear on its back.
A chipmunk is not only much smaller, but its stripes extend from its back across its face to its nose.
Would the stock-photo website people be happy to learn the distinction? I would, should such an item have come to my desk. “The world is so full of a number of things/ I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” It must have been close to 70 years ago that I first learned this rhyme: every word as true now as then. How could any person be bored, with something new to delight us at every turn, some bit of information to correct what we thought we knew. Thanks, Alistair.
Denise, it might be easier to reform the Senate.