Alaska Marmot
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| Alaska Marmot | ||||||||||||||||
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| Marmota broweri Hall & Gilmore, 1934 |
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 Range of Marmota broweri in Alaska. Its range also extends slightly into Canada.
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The Alaska Marmot (Marmota broweri) is a species of rodent in the Sciuridae family. It is found in the scree slopes of the Brooks Range, Alaska, which provide protection from predators. They eat grass, flowering plants, berries, roots, moss, and lichen. Alaska marmots have special winter dens with a single entrance that is plugged during the entire winter hibernation period. They are built on exposed ridges that thaw earlier than other areas, and the entire colony stays within the den from September until the plug melts in early May. Most marmots mate before emerging from the winter den. In areas where marmots are hunted, marmots remain quiet when approached by humans; Alaska Natives have traditionally eaten marmot meat and used marmot fur in clothing.[1]
[edit] References
- Rodent Specialist Group 1996. Marmota broweri. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 29 July 2007.
- Thorington, R. W. Jr. and R. S. Hoffman. 2005. Family Sciuridae. Pp. 754-818 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
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