UNIQUE SPECIES

We don't know for sure when the first marmot ancestors arrived on Vancouver Island. One idea is that they came during the Illinoian glacial period, about 100,000 years ago. Another is that marmots appeared more recently, during the Cordilleran glaciation some 10,000 years ago. Sea levels fell during both periods, creating land bridges between the mainland and Vancouver Island. This allowed marmots from the continent to travel to the newly accessible island. Once the glaciers melted, sea levels rose again, isolating the island marmots and setting the scene for a new species to evolve.

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HABITAT

Over the past 10,000 years following the last ice age, forests slowly grew over the land that was once buried deep beneath the ice. This natural pattern of forest growth put marmots quite literally between a rock and a hard place since they live neither in the forests nor on the rocky mountaintops. Instead, they live in small patches of sub-alpine meadow, scattered, like tiny islands in a vast sea of unsuitable habitat. There they find the forage they need, deep soil for digging burrows and large boulders to provide convenient lookout spots to watch for predators. Boulders also help marmots control their internal body temperature, you will often see them sunning on them. Boulders are a predictable and necessary feature of marmot habitat. Most natural habitats, therefore, are high in the mountains, above 1000 metres, where summer is short and occasional winter avalanches keep trees from taking root in the small meadow patches.

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DIET

Vancouver Island marmots are herbivores and require a good variety of plants to eat. They are known to eat well over 50 different species of grasses and wild flowers.

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SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Vancouver Island marmots live in small groups called colonies. The colonies are made up of one or more families consisting of an adult male, one or more adult females and a variable number of sub-adults, yearlings and young-of-the-year. The size and number of families varies between colonies and years, often producing dramatic fluctuations in population size in a given location.


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More on Marmots

Recovery Strategy