Chip and Dale

Chip and Dale are a pair of chipmunks who are very popular Disney characters. Although the duo have similar looks and rarely appear separately, they both have distinct personalities and a few distinguishing physical features.

Chip can be identified by his small, black nose and two adjacent front teeth, whereas Dale has a larger nose which is alternately brown, black or red, and he has a gap between his two front teeth. Chip is also usually the more logical and cunning of the two, with Dale being the more dimwitted one who can be smart at times.

While they most frequently appeared in theatrically-released cartoons under the Donald Duck and Pluto series, they were also featured in three shorts under their own banner, "Chip and Dale"--these were Chicken in the Rough, Two Chips and a Miss and The Lone Chipmunks.

The duo also starred in their own television series, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. Chip is the protagonist, and Dale is the deuteragonist.

Background
Chip and Dale first appeared in a 1943 Pluto cartoon titled Private Pluto. In this appearance, they look a lot more like realistic chipmunks and did not have names. The two then-nameless twin chipmunks were never intended to be used again after that short, but when Walt Disney needed new characters to challenge Donald Duck, Walt decided to revive these two chipmunks, leading them to acquire their now-familiar names and personalities. Ever since, they have appeared primarily in Donald Duck and Pluto cartoons.

Chip and Dale became so popular that they were able to star in their own series of cartoons joining Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. Only three shorts were created in that series. The first was Chicken in the Rough, where Dale becomes trapped in a chicken coop. The next and most famous one was Two Chips and a Miss, where they go out to a night club and battle for the attention of female chipmunk Clarice. The last was The Lone Chipmunks, where Chip 'n' Dale capture the outlaw Pete.

Their names are a pun on the name "Chippendale" (a reference to furniture-maker Thomas Chippendale). This was suggested by Bill "Tex" Henson, a screenwriter at the studio.

Personalities
While the two are nearly inseparable and count each other as their closest friends, the one thing that can tear them apart is a romantic interest. They have been known to have feelings for the same girl most of the time and battle each other for the affections of the girl in question. In Rescue Rangers, both are in love with Gadget, but can't seem to be open about their feelings.

Appearences
Chip has darker fur with a small black nose. Chip is the brains of the duo and thus is shown to be clever, fearless and a little bossy. Unlike his best friend, he's a fast thinker and far more active. When dealing with Donald, Chip shows to be much more of a threat than Dale, both mentally and physically. In Rescue Rangers, Chip constantly thinks about being on duty to the point where he is thought to not know how to be fun; because of such, Dale's blundering causes him nothing but headaches.

Dale is much lighter than his partner. He sports two buck teeth as a symbol of stupidity and a seemingly large red nose. He is lazy, dim-witted and clumsy. In earlier appearances, he was completely foolish to the point where he can truly be called an idiot. In later years, that aspect of his personality was toned down to just being carefree and fun-loving. In Rescue Rangers, Dale wears a Hawaiian shirt, possibly to show how relaxed his personality it; he gets along easier with Monterey Jack and Zipper than Chip.