Chipmunks in France
Today's Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (by @zachweinersmith) is about belling every chipmunk in France. In related news, TIL there are chipmunks in France.
There are 25 extant species of chipmunks. None of them are native to France, but one has established populations there: meet the Siberian chipmunk, or common chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus).
Photo of a Siberian chipmunk in the forest of Sénart in France. Photo by Jean-Louis Chapuis, who did much of the work cited here. Thank you Jean-Louis.
This lil critter is the only species of chipmunk native to Asia. Its names in French are tamia de Sibérie, écureuil de Corée (a generic name for chipmunks in the pet trade), and bouroundouk.
In the 1960s through 1980s, it was sold as a pet. Released and escaped animals have been breeding in the wild since then. Most populations fail and disappear, but some are still going strong, mainly in parks and suburban forests in northern France.
There are between 9 and 11 such populations in France (and about as many in the rest of Europe). The largest had about 15 000 chipmunks when counted in… uhhh… the 2000s. (The text says 2008 but they cite a 2007 source, that I can't find online.) Three others have populations in the thousands, and two in the hundreds.
Map of the 10 Siberian chipmunk populations in France in 2004. Thank you Jean-Louis.
There aren't any studies of trends over the long term, but the largest populations seem roughly stable.
A few other species, like the Eastern chipmunk, were also sold as pets, but I haven't found any evidence of any still living in France.
I very much doubt there are many pet chipmunks left in France: they've been completely banned since 2016. Zoos don't seem to have any either. So overall, there are probably between 20 000 and 50 000 chipmunks in France. Quite a lot of belling work.
