New Hampshire PBS NATUREWORKS!
Home     About     Watch     Nature Files     Teachers     Contact

Hoary Marmot - Marmota caligata

Characteristics
Range
Habitat
Diet
Life Cycle
Behavior

 Classification

 Phylum:
Chordata
 Class: Mammalia
 Order: Rodentia
 Family: Sciuridae
 Genus: Marmota


Hoary Marmot
ICUN Redlist - World Status: Least ConcernLeast Concern
  Characteristics
Hoary MarmotThe hoary marmot has thick, silvery-gray fur on its head, shoulders and half of its back. It has reddish-brown fur on the back half of its back, its rump and on its long bushy tail. It has black feet, a white patch of fur between its small, round eyes and white fur around its nose and mouth. It has small ears and long, curved claws on both its front and hind paws.

  Range
mapThe hoary marmot can be found in Alaska south to Washington, northern Oregon and most of  Montana and parts of Idaho





.
  Habitat
The hoary marmot can be found on rocky mountain slopes and hillsides and in alpine meadows.
  Diet
Hoary MarmotThe hoary marmot eats a variety of grasses, green plants and seeds. It often eats snow to get the water it needs. The hoary marmot puts on a layer of fat in the fall before it hibernates. In the southern parts of its range, it hibernates from October through February. In the northern part of its range, it hibernates from September through April. The marmot is very territorial and will chase other marmots from its feeding range.
  Life Cycle
Hoary MarmotHoary marmots mate shortly after they come out of hibernation. They mate in their burrows. A month after mating, the female will give birth to two to four babies. The babies spend their first month in a burrow underground. They will be fully weaned about two weeks after they come out of the burrow. The young will stay with their mother for their first two years.

  Behavior

Hoary MarmotWhen there is plenty of food, hoary marmots live in colonies made up of a dominant male, a few breeding females and their young and a few subordinate males. Only the dominant male will mate with the females in the colony.

If there is limited food, hoary marmots may live in groups of one adult male and female and their young. Hoary marmots often wrestle with each other for hours. They will stand on their hind legs and put their front paws together and push at each other.

Hoary marmots are also very vocal and have a system of alarm calls, whistles, and trills to warn off predators like coyotes, eagles, and foxes. In fact, another name for the hoary marmot is the whistler. The hoary marmot gets its name from its silvery-white fur. The word hoary means something that is gray or white, as if with age.



 


Support for NatureWorks Redesign is provided by: