Yellow-Bellied Marmot Chirping

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Marmots are a large burrowing rodents ,about the size of a house cat, found in the Northern Hemisphere . Yellow-bellied Marmots are mammals with grizzled brownish fur, a yellow belly, and a whitish spot between eyes. They have small round ears , a short white muzzle and a black nose. The body is heavy-set with short legs and a furry reddish-brown tail.

Marmots are rodents, closely related to both ground squirrels and prairie dogs.

These marmots are herbivores.

Yellow-bellied marmot does not have excellent eyesight because it is short-sighted, but it has excellent sense of smell and hearing. The sense of smell and hearing allows it to find food and stay away from the predators.

They are diurnal animal they are active during the day. Most times it spends on the ground terrestrial animal, but it is also capable for climbing on the shrubs and trees.

Yellow-bellied marmot is also known as a whistle pig because it produces high-pitched whistle or chirp as an alert to other members of the group when a predator is detected.

Yellow-bellied marmots live in small groups composed of a single male and two to three adult females. Sometimes these small group gather and form large colonies.

Hibernate in burrows during winter. Yet Yellow-bellied marmot are not a true hibernator – they awakes from time to time.

Males are territorial.

Yellow-bellied marmots dig complex system of burrows which contains several entrances, tunnels and emergency exits. They are used as a shelter from the predators and a den for hibernation and also for breeding the young . Burrows are usually 3.3 feet deep, but they can reach 23 feet when build for hibernation.

Main predators are foxes, coyotes and wolves.

Approximately 80% of a marmots life is spent underground.