Species: Marmota olympus
Olympic Marmot
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Head and front part of body mainly brown, fading to yellowish by late summer, with white guard hairs; small ears; prominent bushy tail; short legs; dark brown feet; white incisors; total length 450-785 mm (Whitaker 1996).
Articles:
This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Rodentia
Family
Sciuridae
Genus
Marmota
NatureServe
Classification
Informal Taxonomy
<p>Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Rodents</p>
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Rodentia - Sciuridae - Marmota - by some authors. It was regarded as a distinct species by Jones et al. (1992), Hoffmann et al. (in Wilson and Reeder 1993), and Thorington and Hoffmann (in Wilson and Reeder 2005).
Ecology and Life History
Head and front part of body mainly brown, fading to yellowish by late summer, with white guard hairs; small ears; prominent bushy tail; short legs; dark brown feet; white incisors; total length 450-785 mm (Whitaker 1996).
Migration
<p>true - false - false</p>
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Grazes on a wide variety of grasses and forbs. Does not store food for the winter; accumulates body fat.
Reproduction Comments
Probably similar to M. CALIGATA which mates in spring soon after emergence from hibernation, bears young in late May or early June, produces 1 litter of 4-5 young/year. Young reach sexual maturity probably in 2-3 years (Banfield 1974).
Length
78
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G3G4
Global Status Last Reviewed
2006-03-30
Global Status Last Changed
2006-03-30
Other Status
<p>LC - Least concern</p>
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?US.WA=S2" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
D - 1000-5000 square km (about 400-2000 square miles) - D - The range is limited to the upper slopes of the Olympic Mountains of northwestern Washington (Edelman 2003); the species is almost completely restricted to Olympic National Park (Barash 1973). Extent of occurrence is approximately 1,800 square kilometers (Barash 1973). Most marmots occur at elevations of 1,500-1,750 meters, with normal lower and upper extremes of 920 and 1,990 meters (Barash 1973, Wood 1973) and rare occurrences to near sea level (30-200 meters) (Scheffer 1995).
Global Range Code
D
Global Range Description
1000-5000 square km (about 400-2000 square miles)