Term: Male—dog; female—bitch; young—pups.
Where found: Might be encountered in various sections of the park but most recent records are from the northeast part from Canyon north and east to Lamar River and Slough Creek drainages. Probably follow the elk herds in the winter.
GOLDEN-MANTLED MARMOT
Marmota flaviventris nosophora
The Golden-mantled Marmot is one of the familiar animals of Yellowstone. Known to many people as a woodchuck or groundhog, the Yellowstone representatives never worry about whether they will see their shadow on the proverbial groundhog day. They remain snug in their beds for they know that they don’t want to come out for another six weeks or more anyhow.
In fact, they spend over half of their life sleeping, for they hibernate from about the first of September until early April. The summer months are then spent in accumulating a layer of fat to carry them through the next long sleep.
Marmot
Marmots are found throughout the park at all altitudes wherever suitable rocky slopes can be found. They are commonly seen from the highway on rock piles or near culverts. Such areas provide the most suitable protection since they are slow and fat and easily caught if found too far away from a safe retreat. Easily tamed, they soon adjust themselves to the presence of numerous visitors and even congregate in the vicinity of lodges and cabin areas where shelter under buildings is handy and scraps of food are plentiful.
The marmot well deserves its early name of “Whistler” for his piercing warning whistle is commonly heard whenever anything startles him. And immediately upon hearing it every other marmot in the vicinity pops his head up for a quick look, then starts for home. Their favorite retreat is on a rock or knoll or log, near the home entrance, where a good view of the surrounding area can be had. Bears, badgers, coyotes, lynxes and some of the larger hawks are their principal enemies.
Their food consists of vegetation of various kinds, clover, grass, seeds, and foliage of native plants as well as cultivated crops when such are within their feeding range. In some instances marmots have proved quite destructive to gardens and other crops.