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Article: Running out of room: climate change is chasing Yosemite's alpine chipmunk to higher altitudes.(RARE & ENDANGERED)
- Article from:
- National Parks
- Article date:
- January 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 National Parks Conservation Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There was a time, not long ago, when visitors to Yosemite National Park might come across a diminutive critter called the alpine chipmunk at 7,800 feet above sea level. Not anymore. Nowadays, possibly in an attempt to stay cool, the little guy hasn't been found below 9,600 feet. That's a major loss of geographic range.
According to Jim Patton, a retired University of California Berkeley zoology professor, the tiny gray mammal's movement represents the greatest upward "retraction" of any high major-elevation species, which include the golden-mantled ground squirrel, the Belding ground squirrel, the water shrew, the bushy-tailed ...