Marmots

August 18, 2010 Filed in: Marmottes

Marmots are a sort of squirrel common in the alps. This is an Alpine Marmot (Marmota marmota) in the Vanoise National Park in France. Although they’re quite common in Europe now they actually died out in the Pyrenees before being reintroduced in 1948.

Alpine Marmots eat plants such as grasses and herbs, as well as grain, insects, spiders and worms. They prefer young and tender plants over any other kind, and hold food in their forepaws while eating. They mainly emerge from their burrows to engage in feeding during the morning and afternoon, as they are not well suited to heat, which may result in them not feeding at all on very warm days. When the weather is suitable, they will consume large amounts of food in order to create a layer of fat on their body, enabling them to survive their long hibernation period

As the summer begins to end, Alpine Marmots will gather old stems in their burrows in order to serve as bedding for their impending hibernation, which can start as early as October. They seal the burrow with a combination of earth and their own faeces. Once winter arrives, the Alpine Marmots will huddle next to each other, and begin hibernation, a process which lowers their heart rate down to five beats per minute, and breathing down to 1–3 breaths per minute, which uses up their stored fat supplies as slowly as possible. Their body temperatures will drop to almost the same as the air around them, although their heart rate and breathing will speed up if they approach freezing point. Some Alpine Marmots will starve to death despite this, due to their layer of fat running out. This is most likely to happen in the younger Alpine Marmots than the older ones

At one time marmots were hunted for their fat which was though to cure rheumatism.

source : Alpine marmot. (2010, August 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:47, August 18, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alpine_marmot&oldid=376884226

photo’s : SwissMountainLeader.com