Hoary Marmot Whistler Nursing Her Babies
Hoary Marmot Whistler Nursing Her Babies
Hoary marmots live near the tree line on slopes with grasses and forbs to eat and rocky areas for cover. Hoary marmots are diurnal and herbivorous, subsisting on leaves, flowers, grasses, and sedges. Predators include golden eagles, grizzly and black bears, wolverines, coyotes, red foxes, lynxes, wolves, and cougars.
Hoary Marmot Reproduction
Hoary marmots breed shortly after, or even before, their emergence from hibernation burrows in May and in some areas as early as February. Gestation lasts 25 to 30 days, so the litter of two to five young is born between late May and mid-June. The young "Whistlers" emerge from their birth den at three to four weeks of age, by which time they have a full coat of fur and are already beginning to be weaned. Subadults initially remain with their birth colony, but typically leave at two years of age, becoming fully sexually mature the following year.
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