Olympic Marmot
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Marmota olympus )
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Olympic Marmot
Photograph by US National Park Service. License: Public Domain. (view image details)
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OLYMPIC MARMOT FACTS
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Description
The Olympic Marmot is stocky with a wide head and large rounded claws for digging. The fur is a mix of brown and white hairs. In summer the hair turns a yellowish color. Olympic marmots are highly social and may live in groups of over a dozen animals. They hibernate in underground burrows for 3 to 9 months.
Size
Length: 46-53 cm; tail length 18-25 cm
Environment
Alpine meadows and slopes
Food
Olympic Marmots eat leaves, flowers and roots from a variety of herbaceous plants and grasses. They also eat fruit and sometimes insects.
Breeding
Four or five young are born in underground burrow lined with grass after a gestation period of about 30 - 32 days. The young are pink, naked and blind at birth.
Range
Olympic Peninsula in the western section of the state of Washington
Classification
| Class: | Mammalia | | Order: | Rodentia | | Family: | Sciuridae | | Genus: | Marmota | | Species: | olympus | | Common Name: | Olympic Marmot |
Relatives in same Genus
Hoary Marmot (M. caligata)
Yellow-bellied Marmot (M. flaviventris)
Woodchuck (M. monax)
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