Emma Jones
In addition to the natural-colored chipmunks, there are now also color forms that deviate from the wild color.
The white chipmunks are well known. Are caused by a mutation that prevents melanin from being formed. However, the animals are not albinos because they still have visible stripes and their eyes are not red. In this case, one speaks of leucism. For a long time, white chipmunks were frowned upon because they were said to have eye problems and were partially deaf. In fact, such problems can occur in overbred animals damaged by inbreeding. But this also applies to the normal-colored animals that come from dubious breeding. You can now get white chipmunks from good breeders, which are in no way inferior to the wild-colored animals in terms of health.
Cinnamon-colored chipmunks are generally much redder in color than their wild-colored counterparts. However, the reddish color is very different. There is cinnamon where you have to look very closely to be able to assign the color correctly. Other animals show a very intense color, which makes them very popular with many owners.