Shelley Sailor, age 11, of Wichita, Kansas, for her question:
What are marmots?
These furry fellows are members of the squirrel animal family. However, they are larger and much fatter than the average squirrel we see frisking around. In fact, they are never caught frisking through the trees or anywhere else. The chubby marmots are 'slow and rather lazy animals.
The marmots are rated as the largest of the ground dwelling squirrels, which makes them cousins of the chipmunk, the prairie dog and that wretched little garden menace known as the gopher. The marmots, however, seem to make no serious trouble at all. Several types live shy, lazy lives in China and other parts of Asia and among the Alpine slopes of central Europe. One marmot who enjoys life in the eastern regions of North America has a calendar day dedicated in his honor. February 2nd is known as Groundhog Day and our eastern groundhog is really a marmot.
The groundhog, alias the woodchuck is actually the smallest of the marmots. The thickset fellow may measure 24 to 27 inches from his stubby round nose to the tip of his furry, six inch tail. His rather course coat is grizzled with grays and browns and always much darker on his back. His short stubby legs were never meant for speeding, which is fine because like all marmots he prefers to move slowly and take his time. Like many fatties, his weight varies. In September he may weigh 10 pounds or more and in March only half this much. No, fatty has not been on a crash diet to reduce his waistline.
The groundhog marmot lives where winters are severe. In the fall he prepares for months of hibernation by stuffing himself with extra rations of grassy greenery. His extra fat keeps him warm while he spends the winter curled up in a cozy nest deep in his underground burrow. The fat is still there when spring puts an end to his long sleep. For a few weeks he is extra busy, repairing and perhaps rebuilding his burrows and under¬ground chambers and also dating a lady marmot of his choice. In a few weeks, all this extra springtime activity reduces his weight. Through the summer he dines early in the day, dozes through afternoon on a sunny rock and retires for a good night's sleep in his comfortable underground bedroom.
The hoary marmot, alias the whistler, is at home on the rocky slopes of our western mountains. He is bigger than the woodchuck and his coat is a grizzly mixture of blacks and whites. His back is blackish and his tummy is whitish. His hands and feet are black. So is his face, with the exception of a white patch on each cheek and another on his fore¬head. He is called the whistler because when visitors approach he warns his neighboring kinfolk with a shrill whistling cry of alarm.
Young marmots are born in the spring. Mrs. Whistler bears a litter of two to five and the youngsters remain in her care through their first winter. Mrs. Woodchuck may bear as many as five babies. The helpless infants are born blind and bare. Each one is about four inches long and weighs no more than 1 1/2 ounces. But in a month, the babies have opened their eyes and grown fur coats. They are ready to give up mother's milk in exchange for a diet of grassy fodder.