**Here’s the thing. You said a “chipmunk is a ground squirrel.” Is it in the same family? Yes. No one’s arguing that. As someone who is a scientist who studies squirrels, I am telling you, specifically, in science, no one calls chipmunks ground squirrels. If you want to be “specific” like you said, then you shouldn’t either. They’re not the same thing. If you’re saying “squirrel family” you’re referring to the taxonomic grouping of Sciuridae, which includes things from prairie dogs to flying squirrels to marmots. So your reasoning for calling a chipmunk a ground squirrel is because random people “call the small ones ground squirrels?” Let’s get mountain beavers and dormice in there, then, too. Also, calling someone a human or an ape? It’s not one or the other, that’s not how taxonomy works. They’re both. A chipmunk is a chipmunk and a member of the squirrel family. But that’s not what you said. You said a chipmunk is a squirrel, which is not true unless you’re okay with calling all members of the squirrel family chipmunks, which means you’d call prairie dogs, marmots, and other rodents squirrels, too. Which you said you don’t. It’s okay to just admit you’re wrong, you know?**