LIVING UNDERGROUND

Apart from during hibernation (from September through April), marmots are usually active above ground for only a few hours in the early morning and late afternoon. The rest of the time they spend in their burrows. Burrows provide shelter from the elements and a refuge from predators. Burrow systems can be quite elaborate (one excavated measured 4 metres long and 1 metre underground) and typically contain numerous passages and exits.

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BEHAVIOR

In summer, marmots spend most of the time they are above ground lounging on rocks, but spend a few hours each day eating, looking for food or interacting with other marmots. Nose - touching ("greeting") and play fighting ("boxing") are common behaviours and entertaining to watch.

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HIBERNATION

Vancouver Island marmots hibernate from mid-September until late April or early May. Radio-telemetry suggests that marmots hibernate as family groups, and often re-use hibernacula in subsequent years. Hibernacula can be identified either by grass and mud "plugs" found at tunnel entrances in late autumn, or by emergence tunnels through the snowpack in May or early June. In general, Vancouver Island marmots appear to select hibernacula that are covered during winter by deep snowpack.

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REPRODUCTION

Mating occurs in May, soon after they wake up in the spring, but pups (usually 3 or 4 in a litter) are not seen above ground until July. Marmots normally begin breeding at 3 to 4 years of age and generally produce a litter of pups every other year. They can live over 10 years in the wild, so a productive female might contribute 12 or 15 pups during her lifetime. Both females and males are attentive parents, carefully guarding the nest burrow and otherwise standing guard: pups remain near their natal burrow for their first year and hibernate with their mother in late September. Yearlings generally expand their movements farther from home but usually return to hibernate with their mom a second time. Males will occasionally father pups with two or more females in a given year.

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DISPERSAL

Like many animals, marmots avoid close interbreeding. So, because of the small colony sizes common to Vancouver Island marmots, reproduction often depends upon new animals (dispersing marmots) moving in from other colonies. This supports a "metapopulation" theory for Vancouver Island marmots. Dispersal (the movement of animals from one or more sites to another)an important part of the marmot's ecology and enables the continuance of healthy marmot communities. But not all marmots disperse. Many adult marmots and pups will stay put and as will large number of the "teenage" (2 year-old) marmots, eventually taking the place of older animals who have died. But a few (one in three) male or female 2 year-olds leave the colony, often moving 5 to 20 km to new habitat. This allows formation of new colonies (two marmots setting up house in a new location) and the rescue of declining ones (one or more marmots being welcomed into a colony to provide additional breeding opportunities for the colony). Because dispersal is so critical to a metapopulation, changes in the marmots' ability to move through the landscape between habitat can have profound impact on the entire population.

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More on Marmots

Recovery Strategy