Olympic Marmot (Marmota olympus)

Olympic Marmot
Photograph by US National Park Service. License: Public Domain. (view image details)

OLYMPIC MARMOT FACTS

Description
The Olympic Marmot is stocky with a wide head and large rounded claws for digging. The fur is a mix of brown and white hairs. In summer the hair turns a yellowish color. Olympic marmots are highly social and may live in groups of over a dozen animals. They hibernate in underground burrows for 3 to 9 months.

Size
Length: 46-53 cm; tail length 18-25 cm

Environment
Alpine meadows and slopes

Food
Olympic Marmots eat leaves, flowers and roots from a variety of herbaceous plants and grasses. They also eat fruit and sometimes insects.

Breeding
Four or five young are born in underground burrow lined with grass after a gestation period of about 30 - 32 days. The young are pink, naked and blind at birth.

Range
Olympic Peninsula in the western section of the state of Washington

Classification

Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Genus:	Marmota
Species:	olympus
Common Name:	Olympic Marmot

Relatives in same Genus
  Hoary Marmot (M. caligata)
  Yellow-bellied Marmot (M. flaviventris)
  Woodchuck (M. monax)

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