Yellow-Bellied Marmot Facts
Yellow-Bellied Marmot Facts
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| Interesting Yellow-Bellied Marmot Facts: |
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| Yellow-bellied marmot reaches 13.4 to 19.7 inches in length (from head to tail) and 3.3 to 11 pounds in weight. Their tail has 4.7 to 8.7 inches in length. |
| Fur of the yellow-bellied marmot is yellowish to brown in color. They have yellow patches on the side of the neck and the fur of reddish to yellowish color on the underside. |
| Yellow-bellied marmot has short muzzle and small ears covered with fur. |
| Yellow-bellied marmot does not have excellent eyesight because it is short-sighted, but it has excellent sense of smell and hearing. Last two senses allow it to find food and stay away from the predators. |
| Yellow-bellied marmot is a diurnal animal (active during the day). Most time it spends on the ground (terrestrial animal), but it is also capable for climbing on the shrubs and trees. |
| Yellow-bellied marmot is vegetarian. Its diet consists of grass, flowers, seeds and herbs. |
| Yellow-bellied marmots dig complex system of burrows which contains several entrances, tunnels and "emergency exits", which are used as a shelter from the predators and as a den for hibernation and for the breeding of the young animals. Burrows are usually 3.3 feet deep, but they can reach 23 feet when build for hibernation. |
| Yellow-bellied marmots live in the small groups composed of the single male and two to three adult females. Sometimes, these small groups gather and form large colonies. |
| Males are territorial. They use special type of secretion of facial glands to mark the territory by rubbing this secretion into the boulders and burrows. Unlike aggressive behavior typical for males, females are very kind to one another. |
| Yellow-bellied marmot is also known as a "whistle pig" because it produces high-pitched sounds (whistle) as an alert to other members of the group when the predator is detected. |
| Main predators of the yellow-bellied marmots are foxes, coyotes and wolves. |
| Depending on the altitude which they inhabit and the length of the cold period, they hibernate six or more months each year. During hibernation, their metabolic and heart rate decrease and they burn the body fats collected during the summer to gain energy required for survival. Yellow-bellied marmot is not a true hibernator - it awakes from time to time. |
| Breeding season takes place after emerging from the hibernation. Pregnancy lasts 30 days and it ends with three to eight babies. Female gives birth in the nest coated with the grass. |
| Young yellow-bellied marmot leaves the nest for the first time after three weeks of birth. Babies drink mother's milk for the first five weeks of their life. They will reach sexual maturity at the age of two years. |
| Yellow-bellied marmot lives up to 15 years in the wild. |
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