This Toronto TikToker Has Nearly 3 Million Followers & He's Literally A Tiny Chipmunk

Charlie the Chipmunk, arguably the most adorable TikToker to come out of Toronto, has captured the hearts of nearly 3 million TikTok users since his social media career started at the start of the pandemic.

His page is filled with videos of him following commands, eating nuts out of his human Borjana Anicin's hands, and occasionally playing with another chipmunk called Buddy. Charlie the "Chip" and Anicin met about four years ago in the backyard of her parents' home.

"I looked out the window and I couldn't wrap my head around what it was so I decided to go outside in the backyard and approach it," Anicin recounted as she detailed her first meeting with and Charlie. "At first he wouldn't give me a chance."

"I kept trying and in about a week of trying I won him over," Anicin said. She mentioned she gently tossed peanuts towards him during that time until one day he came up to her. "After that week, he slowly started to come up and was like, 'Oh, you're OK, I feel like we can trust each other, you're not a danger to me.' Then he would just come up to me and he would grab peanuts from my hand."

Charlie the Chipmunk apparently has a "super interesting" yet "unexpected" personality, Anicin revealed. While he trusts her a lot, he can also be incredibly cautious.

"I mean, he doesn't really trust anybody besides me, so basically for a small chipmunk, he understands quite a lot," Anicin continued. "He knows how to recognize me, and if my parents come up to him or my brother, he knows that's not me so he runs away. He [won't] even give them a chance."

While Charlie does listen to Anicin, he occasionally argues with her and even has "bad days" just like the rest of us where he doesn't want to interact with anyone.

"When he's on a really good day and he is super happy [...] he would just run up to me," Anicin added. "I don't even have to call his name anymore, he just knows it's me."

Now, when it comes to training Charlie, Anicin said it's all about body language and the tone of her voice. But she also mentions that he doesn't listen all of the time.

"He doesn't understand that much, [but] he understands enough," Anicin said. "Let's say if I were to make 20 videos, one video would probably make the cut — one or two. So if I were to say 'freeze' in some videos, depending on the tone, and depending on how I do it, he would not freeze."

While Charlie has proven himself to be "super smart" for a chipmunk, Anicin said she is still trying to figure out how he can recognize certain sounds and what does and doesn't scare him. He recognizes his name, though, and will run to Anacin when she calls it out.

"He knows, he kind of knows, when I say 'Charlie,' food is there," Anicin said.

Courtesy of Borjana Anicin

When she's not videotaping the cute antics of this teeny critter, Anicin works remotely at RBC, and doesn't consider herself the typical social media influencer.

That said, she is prepared for when Charlie goes into hibernation this coming November and has tons of videos for fans to be excited about in the weeks and months to come.

When asked what Charlie would say (if he could, of course) to his fans, Anicin said it would be that he hopes to bring back the smile that you may have lost.

"Charlie, I'm sure, wants to make everybody happy, bring that smile, and keep giving positive and happy energy to all of the fans," she said.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.