Alaska Marmot

Key Takeaways

Introduction

The Alaska marmot (Marmota broweri), is a special kind of rodent that belongs to the Sciuridae family. They are also known as the Brooks Range marmot or Brower’s marmot.

Physical Characteristics

The Alaska marmot is a big rodent that lives on the ground and has a heavy body. It has a short neck and a bushy tail. Its strong legs and feet are perfect for digging. The fur of an adult Alaska marmot is completely black on the dorsal surface and nose, while the rest of its body is covered in gray and light brown fur.

Here are some key physical characteristics:

• Short neck
• Broad and short head
• Small ears
• Short powerful legs and feet
• Bushy and densely furred tail

Distribution

Alaska marmots are mostly found in the Nearctic region. They live in the mountains north of the Yukon and Porcupine rivers in the middle and northern parts of Alaska. This includes places like the Brooks Range, Ray Mountains, and Kokrines Hills. There have been some reports of Alaska marmots being seen in the Richardson Mountains in the northern Yukon Territory, but these sightings haven’t been confirmed yet. Their overall distribution is still poorly understood.

Habitat

Alaska marmots live in places like grasslands, cliffs inland, and mountain tops. They usually live at heights of about 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) to 1,200 meters (3,900 ft). You can often find them in fields full of boulders, rock slides and outcrops, terminal moraines, and Talus slopes in Alpine tundra with herbaceous forage. They like to live near and are less commonly found away from lakes. Alaska marmots live in winter dens that they use for up to twenty years. The entrances to these dens are plugged with plants, dirt, and poop. These dens are usually located near a ledge which they use as a lookout post. A colony is made up of several individual family burrows built close to each other. Their fur color helps them blend in with the rocks.

Diet

Their diet consists of:

• Grasses
• Flowers
• Berries
• Lichen
• Grains
• Legumens
• Occasionally insects

Alaska Marmots are omnivore, they are also decribed as insectivorous, folivorous, frugivorous, and granivorous. They need to eat a lot of food. This is because the food they eat doesn’t have a lot of nutrients and they need to store up energy for their long winter sleep.

Behavior and Lifestyle

Alaska marmots are very social and live in big groups of up to 50, all sharing a common system of burrows. Each marmot usually has its own personal den, with the young ones living with their mom and the dad living in a den nearby. In big groups, the Alaska marmots take turns keeping watch.

They mark their home by secreting a substance from glands on their face and rubbing their face on rocks around their den and on various trails. Alaska marmots also like to sunbathe and spend a lot of time grooming themselves.

Hibernation

Alaska marmots sleep for a very long time during the winter, up to eight months every year. By the end of summer, they have a thick layer of fat to keep them going through their long winter sleep. Alaska marmots stay active until it starts to snow. Around September, they go to their winter dens and don’t come out until June.

Reproduction

Alaska marmots become adults and reach sexual maturity at 3 years. Male marmot mate with one or more female marmots living in their area once a year, usually at the start of spring while they are still in their winter den. The female marmot gives birth to three to eight in litter size in late spring or early summer.

Conservation Status

The conservation status of Alaska Marmot is classified as “Least Concern” by IUCN.

References:

1. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_marmot
2. Alaska Gov: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=alaskamarmot.main