Vancouver Island marmot
| Vancouver Island marmot | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Genus: | Marmota |
| Subgenus: | Petromarmota |
| Species: | M. vancouverensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Marmota vancouverensis (Swarth, 1911) |
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The Vancouver Island marmot (Marmota vancouverensis) naturally occurs only in the high mountains of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. This particular marmot species is large compared to some other marmots, and most other rodents. Marmots as a group are the largest members of the squirrel family, with weights of adults varying from 3 to 7 kg depending on age and time of year.
Although endemic to Vancouver Island, Marmota vancouverensis now also resides successfully at several captive breeding centres across Canada as well as several sites on Vancouver Island at which local extinction was observed during the 1990s. This is the result of an ongoing recovery program designed to prevent extinction and restore self-sustaining wild populations of this unique Canadian species. Due to the efforts of the recovery program, the marmot count in the wild increased from less than 30 wild marmots in 2003, to an estimated 250-300 in 2015.
The Vancouver Island marmot is typical of alpine-dwelling marmots in general form and physiology. However this species can be easily distinguished from other marmots by its rich, chocolate brown fur and contrasting white patches. No other marmot species naturally occurs on Vancouver Island. The Vancouver Island marmot, as its name suggests, is geographically restricted to Vancouver Island, and apparently evolved rapidly since retreat of the Cordilleran glaciation some 10,000 years before present.Marmota vancouverensis is distinct from other marmot species in terms of morphology, genetics, behaviour, and ecology.
An adult Vancouver Island marmot typically measures 56 to 70 centimetres from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. (Picture holding a large housecat.) However, weights show tremendous seasonal variation. An adult female that weighs 3 kilograms when she emerges from hibernation in late April can weigh 4.5 to 5.5 kg by the onset of hibernation in late September or October. Adult males can be even larger, reaching weights of over 7 kg. In general, marmots lose about one-third of their body mass during the six-and-a-half months in which they hibernate during winter.
Like all marmots, Vancouver Island marmots live in burrows and are obligate herbivores. Vancouver Island marmots have been documented to eat over 30 species of food plants, generally shifting from grasses in the early spring to plants such as lupines in late summer. Marmots hibernate for various amounts of time depending upon site characteristics and annual weather conditions. Wild Vancouver Island marmots hibernate, on average, for about 210 days of the year, generally from late September or early October until late April or early May. They generally hibernate for shorter periods in captivity.
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Wikipedia