Marmot

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Marmots are members of the genus Marmota, in the rodent family Sciuridae (squirrels).

Marmots are generally large ground squirrels. Those most often referred to as marmots tend to live in mountainous areas such as the Sierra Nevada in the United States or the European Alps. However the groundhog is also properly called a marmot, while the similarly-sized but more social prairie dog is not classified in the genus Marmota but in the related genus Cynomys.

Marmots typically live in burrows, and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social, and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed.

Some historians suggest that marmots, rather than rats, were the primary carriers of the Bubonic plague during several historic outbreaks.[1]

The name marmot comes from French marmotte, from Old French marmotan, marmontaine, from Old Franco-Provençal, from Low Latin mures montani "mountain mouse", from Latin mures monti, from Classical Latin mures alpini "Alps mouse".

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

The writings of Marco Polo refer to the marmot as "Pharoah's rats."

[edit] Species

The following is a list of all Marmota species recognized by Wilson and Reeder, 1993 [2].

• Gray Marmot or Altai Marmot Marmota baibacina Siberia
• Bobak Marmot Marmota bobak Central Europe to Central Asia
• Alaska Marmot, Brower's Marmot or Brooks Range Marmot Marmota broweri Nearctic
• Hoary Marmot Marmota caligata Northwestern North America
• Black-Capped Marmot Marmota camtschatica Eastern Siberia
• Red Marmot, Golden Marmot or Long-Tailed Marmot Marmota caudata Central Asia
• Yellow-Bellied Marmot Marmota flaviventris South western Canada, Western United States
• Himalayan marmot or Tibetan Snow Pig Marmota himalayana Himalaya
• Alpine Marmot Marmota marmota Central and Western European Alps, Tatra, introduced into the Pyrenees.
• Menzbier's Marmot Marmota menzbieri Central Asia
• Woodchuck, Groundhog, or Whistlepig Marmota monax North America
• Olympic Marmot Marmota olympus Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA
• Tarvaga, Tarbagan or Mongolian Marmot Marmota sibirica, Siberia
• Vancouver Island Marmot Marmota vancouverensis Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

[edit] Images