Marmots are a genus of rodents from the squirrel family, numbering 15 species. The closest relatives of marmots are ground squirrels and prairie dogs, and more distant relatives are squirrels and chipmunks. Marmots stand out for their large size both among their relatives and among rodents in general. Their ability to hibernate (“sleeps like a marmot”) is widely known, but many aspects of biology remain unknown to a wide range of nature lovers.
Himalayan marmots (Marmota himalayana).
In general, marmots are similar in build to squirrels and gophers. They have a ridged body, relatively short legs, and the length of the hind legs is not much greater than the length of the front ones. What they have in common with squirrels is the excellent quality of their fur - thick and long, with sparse guard hairs and a soft, warm undercoat. But they also have peculiar structural features. The marmots' skull is somewhat flat, and their widely spaced eyes sometimes look slightly slanted. The nose is relatively large. The ears are short, round and barely protrude from the fur. The tail is shorter than that of squirrels, and in marmots it is not flat, but rounded in cross section and not covered with long hair. All this indicates the terrestrial lifestyle of these animals. But the main thing that allows you to distinguish a marmot from other rodents even at a great distance is its size. Even the smallest species (Menzbier's marmot, wood marmot) weigh at least 2-3 kg and reach a length of 35-40 cm, and the largest (steppe, Himalayan marmot) weigh up to 8-10 kg and reach a length of 65-70 cm. The coloring of all species is protective, monochromatic or with a contrastingly colored abdomen, cheeks, and head. The coat color of different species is yellowish-gray, silver-gray, brown, reddish-red, and some parts of the body may be black.
Marmots live only in the Northern Hemisphere, but here they spread very widely. These animals are found in almost all steppe and mountain zones of Eurasia and North America. In the north, their range in some places borders on the tundra and taiga (in Siberia, in the American Rockies), in the south - on the deserts of Central Asia, in the west of Eurasia, the range of marmots reaches Western Europe (the Alps), and in the east it reaches the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, all types of marmots can be divided into two groups: steppe and mountain. Outwardly, there are no fundamental differences between them; the ranges of species of each group may overlap each other, but species from different groups never meet each other. Steppe marmots inhabit vast treeless spaces, clearly preferring flat rather than rugged terrain. These animals do not like it when anything limits their view; the only exception is the woodchuck, which really does not disdain to settle on the edges of the forest in the foothills. Mountain marmots, on the contrary, inhabit the uppermost zone of the mountains. But even here they avoid forest plantations and obvious steep slopes, preferring alpine meadows.
The yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) is a typical mountain species inhabiting cliffs and rocky outcrops.
A yellow-bellied marmot collects grass to make a burrow.
All species of marmots are colonial animals. They live in pairs, with the male and female remaining faithful to each other for several years. This kind of monogamy is rare in rodents. Usually their single children also live with their parents, so in fact each couple represents a whole family. The colony consists of several families located at a distance of several tens and hundreds of meters from each other. All family members maintain friendly relations, the young often play with each other and with their parents, conflicts with neighbors in the colony are also very rare, but the marmots drive away aliens from other places. A spirit of mutual assistance reigns in the colony; during feeding and other activities, the marmots monitor the situation and observe the surroundings. As soon as a predator appears, a sound signal immediately follows - a piercing whistle like a “puff-puff”. At this sound, all members of the colony immediately hide in holes; the sight of a fleeing fellow has an even stronger effect on the animals (their vision is better developed than hearing). It should be said that marmots, on the one hand, demonstrate great caution characteristic of all rodents (sometimes bordering on alarmism); on the other hand, these animals are distinguished by more developed intelligence than gophers and squirrels. In places where they are little disturbed, you can notice features of imposingness in their behavior: marmots can allow themselves to lounge in the sun and take a nap, only occasionally lazily looking around the surroundings.
The steppe marmot, or bobak (Marmota bobak), takes a sunbath. The animal gained fat before hibernation and looks well-fed.
Although marmots are generally sedentary animals, they can sometimes move up to tens of kilometers. Young animals disperse in search of a place for their own burrow, and less often, entire colonies in the event of the death of a burrow town (for example, during flooding, plowing of land). All marmots are characterized by seasonal activity. In the summer they reproduce and accumulate fat reserves, and in the winter they hibernate. The proverb “sleeps like a groundhog” very accurately characterizes the behavior of these animals. The marmot's hibernation is the longest in the animal world. Depending on the climate of the area, it can last from 5-6 to 9 months a year; marmots spend 70% of their lives sleeping! During hibernation, the groundhog's pulse slows down to several beats per minute, body temperature drops to 4-8°C, and it is impossible to wake him up in the usual way. The stimulus for awakening is an increase in ambient temperature, but even at this the marmots are still inactive for some time and look sleepy. Marmots sleep not only long and soundly, but also sweetly; in their sleep they can sniffle and snore. These animals hibernate together: all members of the family, and sometimes the entire colony, sleep in the same chamber, sometimes in two rows on top of each other.
Interestingly, in nature these animals do not react to temporary warming, so winter thaws are not able to disturb their sleep rhythm. This may be due to the fact that marmots sleep in deep burrows, and therefore react only to persistent, prolonged warming of the soil and air deep in the burrow. This feature has been used since ancient times to predict the weather and sowing time; on its basis, a holiday arose in the United States - Groundhog Day. It is celebrated annually on February 2, on this day the groundhog is pulled out of the hole and “determined” whether he sees his shadow or not. If the day is sunny, then the groundhog, “seeing the shadow,” hides in a hole, which means there will be another 6 weeks of winter. If the day is cloudy, then the groundhog “does not see the shadow,” which means the arrival of spring. Naturally, such a ritual has nothing to do with the laws of nature and does not convey any real information. In fact, the basis of the tradition is the Christian holiday of Candlemas (according to the Gregorian calendar), which not only in the United States, but also in Europe has long symbolized the arrival of spring. The domesticated marmots used in the ceremony live in artificial houses, so their behavior is in no way related to the weather.
Phil the groundhog sits on the back of his keeper John Griffiths in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. This city is considered the birthplace of Groundhog Day; the tradition of celebration has been maintained here since 1887, and all Punxsutawney meteorological groundhogs bear the name Phil.
In order to spend so much time hibernating, marmots need large reserves of nutrients. Animals store them in the form of fat, the mass of which in the fall can reach 20-25% of the total body weight. In fact, the entire summer period is fattening and preparation for hibernation. The animal can eat up to 250 g of food per day. Marmots feed on a variety of plant foods: fresh grass, buds, rhizomes, bulbs, flowers - their diet includes up to a hundred species of plants. However, in each period of the year these animals show great selectivity, for example, in the spring they eat almost exclusively underground parts of plants. Unlike other rodents, marmots are completely indifferent to seeds and grains; even when eating these parts, they are not digested and come out intact with the droppings. But marmots with grass often eat pupae of ants, locusts, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and snails, which provide them with the necessary amount of protein. In captivity, these animals can even eat meat (including their own relatives), but cannibalism and predation are not characteristic of them.
Compared to other rodents, marmots are not fertile. They breed once a year, the breeding season begins soon after awakening and mating occurs in burrows even before the marmots come to the surface. Moreover, only 13-80% of females participate in mating. In different areas this occurs in March-April. Pregnancy lasts 30-35 days. The female brings from 1-3 to 4-5 cubs and feeds them with milk for about 50 days. Marmots begin to try their first grass at the age of 40 days, but for the first few months they are strongly attached to their parents and do not move away from the hole. Having learned to hide from predators, they begin to lead the same lifestyle as adults, but continue to live in a hole with their parents. Having reached sexual maturity, they finally separate and create a new family in a separate burrow. Reproduction begins at the age of 1-3 years. In nature, the life expectancy of marmots is only 4-5 years, in captivity it is 10-14.
Yellow-bellied marmot cubs with their mother.
Predators play a huge role in the life of marmots, because these animals have a lot of enemies. They are hunted by wolves, coyotes, foxes, steppe ferrets, cougars, red lynxes, manulas, snakes, eagles, golden eagles and other birds of prey. To protect their lives, marmots are forced to constantly stand guard, standing up in a column and looking around the surroundings. The only salvation from danger is a deep hole and mutual assistance of brothers giving warning signals. In an effort to hide in a hole, a marmot is capable of running at speeds of up to 16 km/h, while they usually move only at a speed of 3 km/h. At the same time, the caught animal is able to resist and can bite hard with its sharp incisors. In addition, fleas, ticks and nematodes (worms) pose a danger to marmots, which, when heavily infested, weaken the young. These animals can also suffer from “human” diseases: tularemia, rabies, Rocky Mountain fever, hepatitis, atherosclerosis.
Alpine marmot cubs (Marmota marmota) started playing.
People have always treated these animals with some hostility. All sorts of accusations were brought against these animals. They were not loved because they eat a lot of grass (they take food away from livestock), dig holes (horses often fall into them and break their legs), and carry infectious diseases. In reality, this harm is greatly exaggerated. Although marmots eat grass, they do not eat cereal grains, so they do not damage crops. Marmot burrows do interfere with movement, but they also increase soil fertility through aeration, loosening the soil and fertilizing it with droppings. Although marmots can be carriers of diseases, they do not settle in human homes, and their fertility does not contribute to outbreaks of infections.
But the only thing for which people valued marmots turned against these animals. And they were valued for their tasty meat and high-quality fur. Marmot meat is juicy and fatty, and the weight of one animal is comparable to the weight of a rabbit, so marmots have always been hunted by both nomads and modern sport hunting enthusiasts. The fur of these animals is warm, quite soft and beautiful despite its modest coloring. They hunt marmots with a gun, but hunting with birds of prey, in particular golden eagles, is considered especially prestigious.
A female of the rare Vancouver marmot (Marmota vancouverensis) with her calf. In 2003, the population of this species decreased to 30 individuals, but thanks to captive breeding it increased 10 times.
Due to commercial hunting and plowing of virgin lands, the number of these animals has greatly decreased. Thus, the Vancouver marmot is on the verge of extinction - a narrow endemic that lives only on the Canadian island of Vancouver; now its population numbers only 300 individuals. The range of the Menzbir marmot (Western Tien Shan) is slightly wider, but it is also listed in the Red Book. Even the steppe marmot, or boibak, which has a wide range, is very few in number in its western part (in Ukraine). The Mongolian and wood marmots are quite prosperous, and commercial and sport hunting is permitted. At a young age, marmots are easily tamed, and they transfer their innate “nepotism” to the teacher and become very attached to the person caring for him. However, breeding of most species in captivity is problematic; only woodchucks, which are not uncommon, are bred for medical research. The remaining species need protection, so when meeting marmots, you should not kill them, disturb them or destroy their holes, and then their sonorous whistle will always enliven the mountains and steppes.
Features and habitat of the marmot
The marmot (from the Latin Marmota) is a fairly large mammal from the squirrel family, an order of rodents.
Homeland animal marmots is North America, from there they spread to Europe and Asia, and now there are about 15 main species:
The gray one is also the Mountain Asian or Altai marmot (from the Latin baibacina) - its habitat is the mountain ranges of Altai, Sayan and Tien Shan, Eastern Kazakhstan and southern Siberia (Tomsk, Kemerovo and Novosibirsk regions);
Baibak aka Babak or common steppe marmot (from the Latin bobak) - inhabits the steppe regions of the Eurasian continent;
Forest-steppe, also known as the Kashchenko marmot (kastschenkoi) - lives in the Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions on the right bank of the Ob;
Alaskan aka Bauer's marmot (broweri) - lives in the largest state of the USA - in the north of Alaska;
In the photo there is a bobak marmot
Gray-haired (from the Latin caligata) - prefers to live in the mountain systems of North America in the northern states of the USA and Canada;
Black-capped (from the Latin camtschatica) - divided into subspecies according to regions of residence:
Severobaikalsky;
Leno-Kolyma;
Kamchatsky;
The long-tailed red one or Geoffrey's marmot (from the Latin caudata Geoffroy) - prefers to settle in the southern part of Central Asia, but is also found in Afghanistan and northern India;
Pictured are alpine marmots
Yellow-bellied (from the Latin flaviventris) - habitat is the west of Canada and the United States of America;
Himalayan or Tibetan marmot (from the Latin himalayana) - as the name itself suggests, this species of marmot lives in the mountain systems of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau at altitudes up to the snow line;
Alpine (from the Latin marmota) – the habitat of this type of rodent is the Alps;
Menzbier's marmot, also known as the Talas marmot (from the Latin menzbieri), is common in the western part of the Tan Shan Mountains;
Forest (monax) - inhabits the central and northeastern lands of the United States;
Mongolian aka Tarbagan or Siberian marmot (from the Latin sibirica) - common in the territories of Mongolia, northern China, in our country lives in Transbaikalia and Tuva;
Olympic marmot (from the Latin olympus) - habitat - the Olympic Mountains, which are located in the north-west of North America in the state of Washington USA;
Vancouver (from the Latin vancouverensis) - its habitat is small and located on the west coast of Canada, on Vancouver Island.
You can give description of the animal marmot like a rodent mammal on four short legs, with a small, slightly elongated head and a voluminous body ending in a tail. In the mouth they have large, powerful and rather long teeth.
As mentioned above, the groundhog is a fairly large rodent. The smallest species is the Menzbier marmot, with a carcass length of 40-50 cm and a weight of about 2.5-3 kg.
The largest is animal of the steppes marmot forest-steppe - its body size can reach 70-75 cm, with a carcass weight of up to 12 kg.
The color of the fur of this animal varies depending on the species, but the predominant colors are gray-yellow and gray-brown.
Externally, in body shape and coloring, they are animals similar to marmots, only unlike the latter, they are slightly smaller in size.
Character and lifestyle of the marmot
Marmots are rodents that hibernate in the autumn-spring period, which can last up to seven months in some species.
While awake, these mammals are diurnal and are constantly in search of food, which they need in large quantities for hibernation.
Marmots live in burrows that they dig for themselves. They hibernate in them and stay there all winter, part of autumn and spring.
Most species of marmots live in small colonies. All species live in families in which there is one male and several females (usually two to four). Marmots communicate with each other using short calls.
Recently, with people's desire to have unusual animals such as cats and dogs at home, the groundhog became a pet many nature lovers.
At their core, these rodents are very intelligent and do not require much effort to maintain. They are not picky about their diet and do not have smelly excrement.
And for their maintenance there is only one special condition - they must be put into hibernation artificially.
Groundhog food
The main diet of marmots is plant foods (roots, plants, flowers, seeds, berries, etc.).
Some species, such as the yellow-bellied marmot, eat insects such as locusts, caterpillars and even bird eggs. An adult marmot consumes about one kilogram of food per day.
During the season from spring to autumn, the groundhog needs to eat enough food to gain fat, which will support his body during the entire winter hibernation.
Some species, for example, the Olympic marmot, gain fat for hibernation more than half of their total body weight, approximately 52-53%, which is 3.2-3.5 kilograms.
Can see photo of marmot animals With the fat gained in winter, this rodent in the fall has the appearance of a fat dog of the breed.
Reproduction and life expectancy of the marmot
Sexual maturity of most species occurs in the second year of life. The rut occurs in early spring, after emerging from hibernation, usually in April-May.
The female bears the offspring for a month, after which offspring in the amount of two to six individuals are born.
Over the next month or two, the little marmots feed on their mother's milk, and then begin to gradually emerge from the hole and eat vegetation.
In the photo there are baby marmots
Upon reaching sexual maturity, the cubs leave their parents and start their own family, usually remaining in the common colony.
In the wild, marmots can live up to twenty years. At home, their life expectancy is much shorter and depends very much on artificial hibernation; without it, an animal in an apartment is unlikely to live more than five years.
PEACE TO YOU, ANIMALS!
Flocks of chamois scurry up and down the slopes with equal ease. The tops of the rocky ridges are guarded by argali, propping up the sky with powerful horns. Eagles soar in the sky and have no idea that someone is propping up their sky. Hares jump on the ground and marmots sing their songs. Marmots generally just want to sing songs.
Today the nature of the Alps is extremely rich in all kinds of living creatures. But the realization that nature should be protected did not immediately come to Europeans. There are also known facts of monstrous “royal hunts” with the killing of hundreds and thousands of animals for fun, and completely exterminated species of animals, such as the wild bull - aurochs, which lived in the middle latitudes of Eurasia. By the way, the Polish monarchs tried to save the tour by issuing, it seems, the corresponding laws in 1400... But from the first half of the 20th century, a movement for nature conservation began in the Alps. What is noteworthy is that its first initiators and even the creators of the first national parks were the same people, such as the last kings of Italy, who recently decorated their castles with the horns of chamois and wild goats killed while hunting. That is, the consciousness of Europeans has changed, and as a result, today we meet all kinds of animals on our path and politely give way to each other without fear of being eaten, bypassing any licenses and UN conventions.
Free-roaming animals are free to roam on their own. What this means is that they are absolutely not obligated to come out to you and let you pet them. So whether you meet someone on your morning run or not depends on chance. But if you want to be guaranteed to see the most real wild creatures in the conditions of a real wild forest, and even pet some of them, you should go to visit the local park Parc de Merlet (www.parcdemerlet.com), located on a mountain between Chamonix and Les Ush. You can go there by car, but if someone wants to combine business with pleasure, that is, the pleasure of understanding the environment with the benefit of deep penetration into it through hard tracking, then for true heroes from the center of Chamonix to the mountain, where the park is, leads special path. An hour and a half, and you’re there, hand over the cashier at the entrance for about seven euros per person and enter the animal world. By the way, there are all human conditions - a conference room and a restaurant.
“Just don’t be scared,” says the girl who sold the entrance tickets. - Our animals are very independent. Yesterday, a little goat came into the restaurant, walked around the hall and grabbed customers by the tails of their shirts with his teeth, inviting them to play.
This is somehow very touching...
Yes, our animals treat visitors with all their hearts, and some... it’s not that they’re afraid, they’re just not used to it, and that’s why they don’t react quite adequately. Now you will walk along the path, and llamas will probably pester you. They are the most sociable ones here. Don't drive them away, otherwise they will be offended. They love to be petted.
Need I say that the most grateful visitors to this animal world are the youngest guests of the park? The objects of adoration squeal with pleasure under the hands of the subjects, and it is not for certain which of them squeaks louder.
In terms of the population density of animals per square six hundred square meters, the park can be compared to a zoo. But no cages, enclosures, or fences. It's like a nature reserve, only small. Animals share territory with each other in a natural way, as in nature, and do not compete for the right to influence. Indeed, what kind of competition can there be between an antelope and a marmot? By the way, here is the marmot - he dug himself underground palaces and came to the surface to see what was going on around him. Nothing special was happening around, except for the light rain that was already falling.
To prevent a walk through the reserve from turning into a chaotic movement trying to catch up and photograph this or that animal, it is recommended to follow the laid out routes - one “easy”, the other, relatively speaking, “difficult”. The difficulty lies in the fact that there is a section of the path to climb along natural mountainous terrain, which, in the absence of asphalt, requires boots with a pronounced tread. At the entrance, you can take a diagram that shows the animals that are most likely to be encountered on specific sections of the route. There are even several benches on the upper terrace of the park, so if you have a thermos of hot tea, it’s good to sit on one of them, drink tea and watch how mountain goats and small deer frolic in the gullies below. Drops of spring rain rustle on your hood. To merge with nature is to merge.
This cute animal belongs to the squirrel family, an order of rodents. The marmot is a relative of the squirrel, but unlike it, it lives on the ground in small groups or numerous colonies.
Description of marmots
The basic unit of the marmot population is the family. Each family has its own area populated by closely related individuals. Families are part of the colony. The size of the “land” of one colony can reach impressive sizes - 4.5–5 hectares. In the USA, he was given many names, for example, the earth pig, the whistler, the fear of trees, and even the red monk.
This is interesting! There is a belief that if on Groundhog Day (February 2) a groundhog comes out of its hole on a cloudy day, spring will come early.
If on a sunny day the animal crawls out and is afraid of its own shadow, wait at least another 6 weeks for spring. Punxsutawney Phil is the most popular groundhog. Individuals of this litter, according to established tradition, predict the coming of spring in the small town of Punxsutawney.
Appearance
The marmot is an animal with a plump body and a weight of 5-6 kg. The adult size is about 70 cm in length. The smallest species grows up to 50 cm, and the longest, the forest-steppe marmot, grows up to 75 cm. This is a plantigrade rodent with powerful paws, long claws and a wide, short muzzle. Despite their magnificent forms, marmots are able to move quickly, swim and even climb trees. The marmot's head is large and round, and the placement of its eyes allows it to cover a wide field of vision.
Its ears are small and round, almost completely hidden in fur. Numerous vibrissae are necessary for marmots to live underground. Their incisors are very well developed, their teeth are strong and quite long. The tail is long, dark, covered with hair, black at the tip. The fur is thick and coarse gray-brown on the back, the lower part of the peritoneum is rust-colored. The length of the print of the front and hind paws is 6 cm.
Character and lifestyle
These are animals that love to sunbathe in small groups. The entire day of the marmots is spent searching for food, sun and playing with other individuals. At the same time, they are constantly near the hole, to which they must return in the evening. Despite the small weight of this rodent, it can run, jump and move stones with extraordinary speed and agility. When a groundhog is frightened, it makes a characteristic sharp whistle.. Using its paws and long claws, it digs long holes of different sizes, connecting them with underground tunnels.
Summer burrow options are relatively shallow and have a large number of exits. Winter ones, on the other hand, are more carefully constructed: they are practically an art gallery, the access to which can be several meters long and leads to a large room that is filled with hay. In such shelters, marmots can winter for up to six months. These animals are able to survive and reproduce in extremely inhospitable environments, the conditions of which are dictated by high mountain areas. At the end of September they go into their burrows and prepare for the long winter period.
Each hole can accommodate from 3 to 15 marmots. The hibernation period depends on the severity of the climate; as a rule, this phase lasts from October to April. By sleeping, a rodent increases its chances of survival in a cold, hungry, snowy winter. During hibernation, the groundhog performs a real physiological miracle. His body temperature drops from 35 to 5 and below degrees Celsius, and his heart slows down from 130 to 15 beats per minute. During such a “lull,” the marmot’s breathing becomes barely noticeable.
This is interesting! During this period, he slowly uses up the fat reserves accumulated in good weather, allowing him to sleep deeply for 6 months next to the rest of his family. The groundhog wakes up sporadically. As a rule, this only happens when the temperature inside the den drops below five degrees.
Surviving the winter is very difficult in any case. In this matter, the groundhog's sociability is a determining element for survival. Some evidence suggests that babies are more likely to survive when they hibernate in the same burrow as their parents and older siblings.
If one or both parents die or are absent for some reason, in 70% of cases the offspring cannot tolerate severe cold. The fact is that the size of babies does not allow them to accumulate enough fat to survive. They keep warm by pressing their body against the body of adults. And adults, in turn, suffer large losses of body weight when newborns appear in the burrow.
How long does a groundhog live?
The average life expectancy of an animal is 15-18 years. In ideal wild conditions, cases of longevity have been reported, with marmots surviving up to 20 years. In a home environment, their lifespan is significantly reduced. The whole point is the need to artificially put the rodent into hibernation. If this is not done, the groundhog will not live even five years.
Types of marmots
There are more than fifteen species of marmots, these are:
- boibak is a common marmot that inhabits the steppes of the Eurasian continent;
- Kashchenko - a forest-steppe marmot lives on the banks of the Ob River;
- the gray-haired marmot lives in the mountains of North America;
- also jeffie – red long-tailed marmot;
- yellow-bellied marmot – an inhabitant of Canada;
- Tibetan marmot;
- the mountain Asian, Altai, also known as the gray marmot, inhabited the Sayan and Tien Shan mountain ranges;
- alpine marmot;
- the black-capped one, in turn, is divided into additional subspecies - Leno-Kolyma, Kamchatka or North Baikal;
- woodchuck of the central and northeastern United States;
- Menzbir's marmot - also known as Talas marmot in the Tien Shan mountains;
- Mongolian Tarbagan, living not only in Mongolia, but also in northern China and Tuva;
- Vancouver Island marmot.
Range, habitats
North America is considered the homeland of marmots. At the moment, they have spread to Europe and Asia. The marmot lives at heights. Its burrows are located at an altitude of 1500 meters (often between 1900 and 2600 meters), in the area of quarries to the upper border of the forest, where trees are less common.
It can be found in the Alps and the Carpathians. Since 1948, it has been discovered even in the Pyrenees. The marmot determines its place of residence depending on its species. There are also highland and lowland marmots. Consequently, their habitats are corresponding.
Marmot diet
The groundhog is a vegetarian by nature. It feeds on grasses, shoots and small roots, flowers, fruits and bulbs. Simply put, any plant food that can be found on earth.
This is interesting! His favorite food is grass, but on rare occasions the groundhog also eats small insects. For example, the yellow-bellied marmot is not averse to feasting on locusts, caterpillars and even bird eggs. He needs a lot of food, because to survive in hibernation he needs to gain half his body weight in fat.
The animal successfully obtains water by eating plants. Around the central entrance to the marmots’ “home” is their personal “garden.” These are, as a rule, thickets of cruciferous plants, wormwood and cereals. This phenomenon is due to the different composition of the soil, enriched with nitrogen and minerals.
Lived in the European lowlands. Today it is a relic of that time, and its range is limited to high mountain areas, since only here there are suitable habitat conditions for it. Winter hibernation lasting from 6 to 7 months allows the marmot to go without food for a long time and exist solely on its own fat reserves.
Spreading
Alpine marmots can be found on rocky slopes at altitudes ranging from 600 to 3200 m above sea level. Under favorable conditions per 1 sq. km. inhabited by 40 to 80 individuals.
Appearance
Detailed head image
Males and females are almost indistinguishable from each other in appearance, and sex determination in the field seems to be quite a difficult task. On average, males are somewhat larger and heavier. Body length varies from 40 to 50 cm, tail length from 10 to 20 cm. Weight varies throughout the year, but healthy, adult males weigh at least 3 kg. The weight of females is slightly less.
The head is blackish-gray, with a lighter muzzle. The ears are small and covered with hair. The fur consists of dense, strong bristles and an undercoat of shorter, slightly wavy hairs. Fur color can be quite varied. The back is gray, light brown or red, the lower part is most often yellowish. Individuals with blackish fur are rarely found. Molting occurs once a year, usually in June.
The front legs are slightly shorter than the hind legs and have four toes, while the hind legs have five. Alpine marmots are plantigrade and have well-formed pads on their hairless feet.
Nutrition
In early spring, the basis of the marmot's diet consists of roots, and later - leaves and inflorescences of various herbs. In summer, animals do not experience a shortage of food: they eat only a small part of what is around and even benefit from the fact that cattle grazing in the meadows contributes to the growth of fresh shoots. The daytime activity of marmots is limited by the fact that they suffer from rapid overheating and therefore spend most of their time in cool burrows during hot times of the day. In addition, animals spend less time feeding if they are disturbed by natural enemies or people.
In nutrition, it prefers young shoots and inflorescences poor in cellulose. Immediately after hibernation, it eats any nearby shoots, regardless of the species. However, with an increase in the food supply, it begins to specialize in certain types of plants, including alpine clover, many species of astragalus, bedstraw, Ligusticum mutellinum, alpine plantain and blackening plantain. Research has shown that marmots primarily prefer plants rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which cannot be synthesized independently by the mammal's body. At the same time, the higher concentration of essential fatty acids in the white adipose tissue of sleeping animals gives them the opportunity to achieve lower body temperatures during hibernation.
Lifestyle
Alpine marmots are active during daylight hours. As a rule, they live in families, the core of which is an adult couple, and the remaining members are its descendants of different ages. The number of members in one family can reach 20 individuals. There is always a clearly visible social hierarchy in the group, with each member of the pair dominating over other marmots of only their gender - the alpha male over the male descendants, and the alpha female over the female descendants. The same behavior also manifests itself in relation to strangers who enter the family’s territory: an adult male is chased away by the highest-ranking male, and the female is driven away by the highest-ranking female, respectively. Young alien animals are tolerated only when the family group itself has offspring of the same age. Animals spend a lot of time within the family group, grooming the fur of others and playing together.
File:2006, Murmeldjur BHW 2006.ogg
Alpine marmot's warning whistle (the "rumble" is the sound of the wind)
Sensing danger, marmots stand on their hind legs to better survey their surroundings, and when they notice an intruder or predator, they emit a loud “fift-fift” whistle, heard at a great distance. Then all the marmots living in the neighborhood immediately become wary and disappear into their holes. After some time, they reappear on the surface at the entrance to the hole and look to see if the danger has passed.
The size of the protected area is approximately 2.5 hectares. At a certain moment, the boundaries of the site are marked by the dominant pair. They secrete an intensely smelling secretion from their cheek glands, which they regularly use to mark rocks and trees within their territory. In addition, males regularly explore the boundaries of their territory, while swinging and striking their tails on the ground.
Front paws of a groundhog
The entire family takes part in the construction and maintenance of its burrow. First, marmots loosen the soil with their front paws or teeth, then throw it out with strong movements of their hind legs. The soil pulled to the surface, whose volume can reach several cubic meters, accumulates in slides around the hole.
Hibernation
Hibernation, during which marmots lose up to a third of their body weight, lasts from October to March. It is preceded by a period when marmots begin to collect dry grass and bring it to the nesting chamber. Hay serves as bedding and to insulate the nest chamber. Animals seal the entrance to the hole with earth mixed with grass and stones, and this overlap can reach seven meters in length. Having completed the preparations, the animals begin to settle down. In the center of the nesting chamber, the young marmots most susceptible to the cold lie down, which the adults will warm with their bodies. The pulse rate is reduced to five beats per minute, metabolism is reduced to a minimum, body temperature drops from 37 °C to 2-3 °C, corresponding to the air temperature in the hole. The animals wake up every two weeks for about 24 hours. Having warmed their body to 37 degrees, they put themselves in order, clear the floor of droppings and lie down again, huddling closely together. All marmots wake up at the same time, only such synchronicity allows us to minimize the consumption of valuable energy. Animals wake up “out of schedule” if the air temperature in the burrow becomes too low. Young marmots especially often wake up in a cold hole. Adults then begin to move in order to increase the air temperature with their body heat.
Reproduction
Young marmots
Mating occurs after the end of hibernation in April - May and continues for about 2 weeks. Only the alpha female of the family group can continue the family line. Subdominant females also become pregnant, however their struggle with the dominant female, which occurs primarily during the first 3 weeks of pregnancy, increases the concentration of glucocorticoids in their blood to such an extent that it results in termination of pregnancy. Early mating increases the chances of future cubs accumulating enough fat reserves for hibernation. And yet, their fat reserves are comparatively less than those of adult marmots.
The alpha female mates not only with the alpha male, but also with subdominant males. Research shows that the dominant male is not the father of 25% of cubs. Subdominant males are often the offspring of the dominant male. In many cases they are also the offspring of the alpha female, so the degree of close relationship within a family group can be very high.
Female marmots do not reproduce every year, but take a pause between two pregnancies, sometimes lasting up to 4 years. Whether they become pregnant after hibernation essentially depends on their body weight. Alpine marmot females use up the fat reserves that they accumulated in the previous year until the lactation period. Therefore, they can only reproduce when their body weight exceeds the minimum body weight.
After about 5 weeks of pregnancy, from 2 to 6 naked, blind, deaf and toothless cubs are born. On average, a litter consists of 4 cubs, each of which weighs about 30 g at birth. However, if the female does not eat enough, then, as a rule, she bears only one cub. The cubs open their eyes at approximately 24 days of age and are fed on their mother's milk for 6 weeks. At the age of about 40 days they leave the burrow for the first time, their weight at this time is approximately 240 grams. By this point, they can already eat green food and only occasionally feed on their mother’s milk.
Cubs become sexually mature no earlier than after the second hibernation, but, as a rule, they begin to reproduce only after the third hibernation. The short summer months provide a very short growth phase, which slows down puberty: in regions where living conditions are even harsher, cubs are able to reproduce only after the fourth hibernation. In any case, they remain until puberty in the family group in which they were born.
Lifespan
Alpine marmots live in freedom for up to 12 years. Cubs often die during their first hibernation. Mortality is very high in animals that leave their family group to establish their own territory. Such animals, in search of suitable territory, very often die from predators. Some studies indicate that less than 50% of animals survive winter if they have not been able to form a pair before then. By comparison, of animals between two and eight years of age that remain in a family group, only about 5% die each year from predators or during the winter.
Enemies
The most dangerous enemy for adult marmots is the golden eagle. During the breeding season, golden eagles kill approximately 70 marmots. At the same time, marmots account for up to 80% of the total production of this bird. However, this does not threaten the marmot population. The golden eagle's territory covers an area from 20 to 90 square meters. km, while marmots in a suitable living space can reach a population density of up to 40-80 animals per 1 km².
Alpine marmot and man
The Alpine marmot is not a protected species. The largest population in the Austrian Alps numbers about 30 thousand individuals; in other parts of the range - in the Italian, Swiss and French Alps their numbers are somewhat smaller. The maximum density was recorded in Switzerland - from 40 to 80 adult marmots per 1 km² and in Bavaria - 130-150 individuals, respectively
