Asiatic striped squirrel

The tree chipmunk ( Tamiops ) are a common in East and Southeast Asia generic croissants. Outwardly very similar to the chipmunks. Like these, they have five dark longitudinal stripes on its back. Related are tree squirrels but with the genuine nice croissant with which they are sometimes united in a common genus. The body length of the tree squirrels is 10 to 16 cm, added 8 to 11 cm tail. Their fur is gray-brown with 5 black stripes alternating with three light stripes on the back.

These squirrels are tree dwellers. Depending on the habitat they live in tropical rain forests, deciduous or coniferous forests. Here they live in tree holes and come out during the day to look for nuts, fruits and seeds and sometimes insects.

Differences are four types:

• Himalayan chipmunks, Tamiops macclellandi ( Horsfield 1840), Himalaya, mountainous regions of Southeast Asia
• Cambodia chipmunks, Tamiops rodolphei ( Milne Edwards 1867), Cambodia as well as adjacent areas of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam
• Swinhoe - chipmunk or Chinese tree chipmunks, Tamiops swinhoei ( Milne Edwards 1874), southern China, northern Myanmar and Vietnam; isolated population in Hebei
• Coastal chipmunks, Tamiops maritimus ( Bonhote 1900), south-east. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos

Like the real chipmunks are also tree chipmunk in the small animal trade. Both genera are offered without distinction under the name " chipmunk " because it is not apparent to the layman that there are two unrelated taxa.