Hello kids! Wait, what did you say? No! I’m neither Chip nor Dale from Walt Disney, nor Giggles from the “Happy Tree Friends” cartoon! Those are my cousins! My name is Cheeky and although I don’t live in the glamorous Hollywood, my life in my cosy little burrow is quite interesting. Let me tell you about it….

As I’ve told you , I don’t live in Hollywood . Nevertheless , my burrow is just as luxurious as the houses you find in Hollywood . It stretches over a distance of 4 metres long, and has several rooms and entrances! I even have a bedroom, bathroom and a rubbish dump, mind you! My favourite room is the kitchen because that’s where I store all my food for the winter. Shhh! Don’t let the weasels, foxes, hawks, coyotes or snakes know –they might eat all my food, or worse, eat me up! Whenever winter approaches, you’d find that I’m real lazy. I’d sleep for several days or weeks, waking up for more food whenever my tummy rumbles before I go back to sleep again!

Not all chipmunks look like Chip ‘n’ Dale! The rest of us look much cuter, but I’m definitely the cutest with my fine-looking light and dark stripes running down from my head to my back. Did I mention that I am beautifully colourful, too? Well, I am! My tail and back end is a rich, deep reddish-brown, my stripes come in black, grey and/or beige, my belly is white and/or light grey, and my feet are brown. See, I told you that I’m cute! However, humans don’t always think so , though.

I guess it’s because of my ability to transmit big, bad bacterial infections to humans through my bites. Well, it’s not really my fault. I mean, if someone handles you roughly or try to poke your eyes or try to steal your baby, you would defend yourself, won’t you? So, please do me a favour and tell your human friends that we’d like to be left alone. Thank you!

The other problem I have with your human friends is that they often mistake me as a “c hitmunk” “chipmuck”, “chipminck”, “chip squirrel”, “striped squirrel” or “ground squirrel”! My Asian, Canadian and North American cousins are upset over this error, too! So, please let your friends know that we are call ‘chipmunks’, alright?

Oh, and another thing is that we’re tired of being constantly portrayed as cute little rodents nibbling on peanuts with our paws up to our mouths. We’re omnivores and we eat nuts, grains, fungi, birds’ eggs, worms and insects as well. They’re really scrumptious! Speaking of food, I’m pretty famished right now but before I go off in search of some insects, (Hehe! You’re grossed out, aren’t you?)…..

I want to thank Tan Mei Qi of Peixin Primary School for convincing the editor of WaWa in Kids World to feature my rodent cousins and me this month! So, if you want your favourite animals to have a minute of fame in WaWa in Kids World magazine , drop a letter to the editor at 44 Dafne Street, Singapore 459564. Bye for now!