The New Hotness

The trail camera caught a chipmunk with cheek pouches stuffed full of maple seeds:

The critter evidently heard something, as it froze in position for some seconds, then launched toward its burrow somewhere on the left:

Whatever it heard must have been terrifying:

It covered 2 m across the camera field in 1/2 s (15 frames at 30 f/s) for an average speed of 4 m/s = 9 mph from launch.

A slide show for your edification:

We know this chipmunk as “Stumpy”, because of its half-length tail, and think it has considerable motivation for outstanding speed.

Tail high, little one!