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22nd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Chipmunk eating Vole

I was hiking in the white mountains national forest in late February 2024, when snow was still everywhere and it seemed winter was still at full force. In the corner of my eye I noticed a small chipmunk suddenly running over the ice/snow. I was amazed to see one at this time of year, so I followed it. It stopped in its tracks and started digging in the snow, I could not see at first what it dug up and ran off with. Assuming it was a rotten old nut that he/she hid the previous year. As he was eating on something on a old tree stump, I slowly approached the chipmunk, it turned out to be a vole, that he dug up and started eating... Not something I ever seen before, not realizing that chipmunks also are carnivores until then.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 02.2024
Date Uploaded: 09.2024
Photo Location: New Hampshire, United States of America
Copyright: © Sandra van Hoek