Species: Marmota flaviventris
Yellow-bellied Marmot
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
The coarse-looking upper body pelage is yellow-brown to tawny, often with a frosted appearance, and with a buffy band on the side of the neck. Most have a whitish band across the snout. The tail is short and bushy. Total length reaches about 68 cm.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Rodentia
Family
Sciuridae
Genus
Marmota
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
marmotte à ventre jaune
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Rodents
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Rodentia - Sciuridae - Marmota
Ecology and Life History
The coarse-looking upper body pelage is yellow-brown to tawny, often with a frosted appearance, and with a buffy band on the side of the neck. Most have a whitish band across the snout. The tail is short and bushy. Total length reaches about 68 cm.
Migration
true - false - false - >
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Generalist herbivore. Feeds on a wide variety of grasses and forbs. Does not store food for the winter.
Reproduction Comments
Mating typically occurs shortly after emergence from hibernation. Gestation lasts about 30 days. Litters vary in size between 3-8 young/year. Young remain in burrow for 20-30 days (Frase and Hoffmann 1980), emerge from the natal burrow in late June or July in the mountains of western Colorado, but range-wide reproductive timing varies with elevation and the timing of snow melt. At the highest elevations, females rarely produce litters in consecutive years (Armitage 1991). Males typically first breed at age three or older (Armitage 1991).
Ecology Comments
Yellow-bellied marmot communication includes auditory and chemical signals. They express alarm, alertness, or threats through whistles. They use their cheek glands to leave scent marks that may help convey social status.<br><br>These marmots live alone, in pairs, or colonies. Colonies typically consist of one or more adult territorial males, 1-5 adult females and their young (usually including yearlings and younger offspring). Small habitat patches may include a female and her offspring but adult males and yearlings may not be present (Armitage 1991). <br><br>May harbor fleas that are vectors of sylvatic plague or tick that transmits Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Length
70
Weight
4500
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-06
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-06
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S2&CA.BC=S5&US.CA=SNR&US.CO=S5&US.ID=S5&US.MT=S4&US.NN=SNR&US.NV=S4&US.NM=S2&US.OR=S4&US.SD=S5&US.UT=S4&US.WA=S4&US.WY=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
Range includes western North America from south-central British Columbia and southern Alberta southward to southern California, Nevada, southern Utah, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico, typically at elevations above 2,000 meters.