This dark marmot lives in Grand Teton National Park, and the more typical colored one below lives 100 miles north in Yellowstone National Park. A melanistic population of yellow-bellied marmots have persisted in the Tetons for more than 80 years, with 15-23% of the population consisting of these "black marmots."
7 comments:
Cool. I never knew these marmots had a dark color phase. Speaking of marmots, what do you called an overly chilled woodchuck that can be used as a weapon? A Numb Chuck(of course).......L.B.
Oh that was fantastic! Thanks Lane!
There are melanistic black pikas in Craters of the Moon over in Idaho. Much darker than the more mountainous variety that blend in well with the volcanic malpais. Tobin
Nice marmot.
I occasionally get black woodchucks (Marmota monax) here in the eastern US. I have also gotten white ones. Not albinos, just a color phase. The three colors, black, white and normal, are the same color phases grey squirrels can have. Evolutionary research shows that marmots are squirrels that have shifted to underground life.
There at least used to be a population of black gray squirrels near Amherst MA. And in the San Mateos and the Black range the tassel- ears resemble the ones of the North Rim of the Grande, with black bellies and white tails, rather than the surrounding "Abert" morph.
That's fascinating about the melanistic pikas! As much as anything, I'm amazed they can live at Craters - it gets hotter than hell down there in summer. According to the Park Service site, it sounds like they're able to shelter in cooler rock crevices and lie low during the day. It gives one some hope for the species' adaptability.
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