Marmot outreach makes news

"Marmot Week" highlighted on RMBL webpage:
(click here to see the original story)

Teaching (and Learning) More About Marmots: RMBL's marmot project is currently in its 50th year. Because of our long track record and and because marmots are such fascinating animals, Team Marmot has many lessons to pass onto the next generation of scientists. Each year, team marmot shares its passion for understanding ecology with young and aspiring naturalists at RMBL's Kids Nature Camp.

Photo by Annie Starr: Jenn Smith quizzing students about the ecology of marmots

This season two marmoteers from the University of California Los Angeles helped students to gain key insights into the secret world of marmots. Jenn Smith (in photo above, quizzes students about marmot ecology) is an American Association of University Women Postdoctoral Fellow and Nicole Munoz is a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow.

They first demonstrated the techniques used to observe and live-trap marmots. Then, Jenn and Nicole explained how they perform manipulative experiments to understand how marmots cope with their social worlds and natural threats. For example, students learned how researchers assess whether or not marmots are capable of distinguishing among the different cues of predators.

Photo by Annie Starr: Students distinguishing between the scents of coyote and deer urine

One highlight from this training exercise occurred when students were asked to distinguish among the predators producing various vocalizations and scents (see above). Students were amazingly astute at distinguishing between coyote and deer urine. After marmot week at RMBL, these inquisitive students are now armed with new knowledge of and enthusiasm for understanding the natural world.

Signs of marmots!

I just made it to RMBL, and apparently I'm joining the rest of Team Marmot here just in time! Despite all of the snow--6 feet still on the ground--the marmots are telling us that spring is finally in the air. Although we have yet to see a marmot, they are providing us with clues that they are starting to emerge from a long winter of hibernating in their burrows.

Photo by Adriana Maldonado Chaparro
of Jenn Skiing

At this point in the game, us biologists and the rest of the crew at RMBL must use our field skills to play detective (check out my detective hat)!



First, we saw marmot tracks...note the quarter for size reference.

Photo by Shayn, Winter Caretaker

Check out this a diagram of typical marmot footprint.

Image from ProTrails.com

Then, these tracks lead Shayn to the following marmot hole!

Photo by Shayn, Winter Caretaker

Finally, Caitlin Wells, from the ground squirrel project, just documented another active marmot burrow...

Photo by Caitlin Wells,
Ground Squirrel Project

So, perhaps tomorrow Team Marmot will finally get to see one of these marmots above ground and wandering around during our morning observations...stay tuned!

Photo by Adriana Maldonado Chaparro

Happy Groundhog Day!

This groundhog day, marmots take center stage. Please join us in celebrating this occasion by checking out this story in the Washington Post and a special featurette below about the marmots at RMBL. This featurette was produced as part of the 15th Anniversary Edition release of the film Groundhog Day.

Meet the researchers, see the field site and learn some interesting facts about marmots along they way.

A marmot about Town

As much as I joke about “becoming one with the marmots” when I’ve been working with in the field for months on end, I don’t actually identify most of the individuals by looks alone. An exception to that general rule was “3”, so called because of the mark we put on her back. This particular marmot lives in Gothic itself (the specific location of the RMBL and the site we call Town).

Posing alertly by one of the cow skulls commonly decorating the cabins at RMBL (All photos: Tina W. Wey).


Choosing a comfortable spot to nurse her pups.

Perhaps it’s her rich dark gray/brown fur and prominent white nose bar. Perhaps it’s her curious gaze and prominent buck teeth that are always poking out. Or perhaps it’s her “special” behavior and affinity for the cabins (she once decided to wander right in through an open door and check one out for herself, much to the shock of the researcher inside). For whatever reason, I find her a real charmer. Fat, fluffy, and curious – yes, she's quite the marmot about Town!

Looking fat and fluffy even in the spring. Actually, that's mostly fur, as the marmots are usually very thin when they first emerge and spend the summer packing on the pounds for the coming winter.

Late summer, looking about ready to roll off the cabin steps! Now she probably is as round as she looks.

Animal Diversity Web: Marmots

The University of Michigan Museum has lots of interesting information on animals of all shapes and sizes. Check out the fun facts and interesting photos of yellow-bellied marmots at Animal Diversity Web.

Marmots for all ages

I study marmots with my dad.

Marmots are brown furry mammals.

They live a burrow.

I study marmots in Colorado.

When I study marmots I try to see how loud they get.

The loudest marmot I have heard is 120 db from 2m.

I want to see how loud they get because than I can find out if a predator is around their burrow or them.

Where I study marmots the most successful predator is the fox.

When marmots get scared they make a loud screaming sound called alarm calling.

If you studied marmots you would take notes I take notes and always record data.

We use large metal live traps.

When the marmots get trapped normally they get scared.

We use traps because we can’t catch them otherwise they are too fast.

This is me holding a marmot.

--David Blumstein

Marmot Soap Opera!

I first came to RMBL in 2007 to work with the marmot social network project. My job was to describe all the interactions of the marmots including those in which they fight or court each other for a "date". While observing marmots, the first thought that comes to your mind is: what a nice soap opera! Couples courting, relatives fighting, kids playing, and juveniles going away from home.


One of the most amazing things was that triple blot, one of the oldest males in a group, was displaced by a younger and stronger male. These guys had several fights in which they exerted a lot of energy.

This year I am coming back to RMBL to follow the marmot soap opera while doing the fieldwork of my Doctoral thesis!