Marmot. Rodent. Ground squirrel. Wild mammalian on NATURE

Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus Marmota, with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, when they hibernate underground. They are the heaviest members of the squirrel family.[1]

Yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris)Scientific classificationKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum:ChordataClass:MammaliaOrder:RodentiaFamily:SciuridaeTribe:MarmotiniGenus:Marmota
Blumenbach, 1779Type speciesMus marmota

Species

Marmots are large rodents with characteristically short but robust legs, enlarged claws which are well adapted to digging, stout bodies, and large heads and incisors to quickly process a variety of vegetation. While most species are various forms of earthen-hued brown, marmots vary in fur coloration based roughly on their surroundings. Species in more open habitat are more likely to have a paler color, while those sometimes found in well-forested regions tend to be darker.[2][3] Marmots are the heaviest members of the squirrel family. Total length varies typically from about 42 to 72 cm (17 to 28 in) and body mass averages about 2 kg (4+1⁄2 lb) in spring in the smaller species and 8 kg (18 lb) in autumn, at times exceeding 11 kg (24 lb), in the larger species.[4][5][6] The largest and smallest species are not clearly known.[3][4] In North America, on the basis of mean linear dimensions and body masses through the year, the smallest species appears to be the Alaska marmot and the largest is the Olympic marmot.[5][7][8][6] Some species, such as the Himalayan marmot and Tarbagan marmot in Asia, appear to attain roughly similar body masses to the Olympic marmot, but are not known to reach as high a total length as the Olympic species.[9][10] In the traditional definition of hibernation, the largest marmots are considered the largest “true hibernators” (since larger “hibernators” such as bears do not have the same physiological characteristics as obligate hibernating animals such as assorted rodents, bats and insectivores).[11][12]

BiologyEdit

Some species live in mountainous areas, such as the Alps, northern Apennines, Carpathians, Tatras, and Pyrenees in Europe; northwestern Asia; the Rocky Mountains, Black Hills, the Cascade and Pacific Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada in North America; and the Deosai Plateau in Pakistan and Ladakh in India. Other species prefer rough grassland and can be found widely across North America and the Eurasian Steppe. The slightly smaller and more social prairie dog is not classified in the genus Marmota, but in the related genus Cynomys.

Marmots typically live in burrows (often within rockpiles, particularly in the case of the yellow-bellied marmot), and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed.

Marmots mainly eat greens and many types of grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots, and flowers.

Marmot eating flowers

Subgenera and speciesEdit

The following is a list of all Marmota species recognized by Thorington and Hoffman[13] plus the recently defined M. kastschenkoi.[14] They divide marmots into two subgenera.

Genus Marmota – marmots

Subgenus Marmota

Marmota baibacina – Gray marmot or Altai marmot, found in Siberia

Marmota bobak – Bobak marmot, found from eastern Europe to central Asia

Marmota broweri – Alaska marmot, Brower’s marmot, or Brooks Range marmot, found in Alaska

Marmota camtschatica – Black-capped marmot, found in eastern Siberia

Marmota caudata – Long-tailed marmot, golden marmot, or red marmot, found in central Asia

Marmota himalayana – Himalayan marmot or Tibetan snow pig, found in the Himalayas

Marmota kastschenkoi – Forest-steppe marmot, found in south Russia[14]

Marmota marmota – Alpine marmot, found only in Europe in the Alps, Carpathian Mountains, Tatra Mountains, northern Apennine Mountains, and reintroduced in the Pyrenees

Marmota menzbieri – Menzbier’s marmot, found in central Asia

Marmota monax – Groundhog, woodchuck, or whistlepig, found in much of Canada and east of the Mississippi in northern USA

Marmota sibirica – Tarbagan marmot, Mongolian marmot, or tarvaga, found in Siberia

Subgenus Petromarmota

Marmota caligata – Hoary marmot, found in northwestern North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Montana)

Marmota flaviventris – Yellow-bellied marmot, found in southwestern Canada and western United States

Marmota olympus – Olympic marmot, endemic to the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, United States

Marmota vancouverensis – Vancouver Island marmot, endemic to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Additionally, four extinct species of marmots are recognized from the fossil record:

†Marmota arizonae, Arizona, U.S.[15][16]

†Marmota minor, Nevada, U.S.[17]

Marmota robusta, China = M. himalayana