At first glance you might wonder if this is a squirrel or chipmunk, but despite it’s odd squirrel behaviour, the Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel is, as the name implies, not a chipmunk.

These little ground squirrels do act very much like a chipmunk however. They’re known to store a stash of food in their burrows to eat when they wake up after hibernating for winter, something more common to chipmunks. They also have a striped back, which confuses many people into thinking they must be a chipmunk.

The best way to tell this is a Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel is to notice that the stripes on the back do not appear on the cheeks and face of the animal. Chipmunks, on the other hand, will commonly have their stripes extend up to their eyes, nose and cheeks.

This Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel was photographed in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.