Marmots: Fuzzy Little Chonks

marmots are real-life snorlaxes their life consists of getting as fat as possible during the summer and then hibernating the rest of the year but it doesn't mean their lives are easy their seemingly chill lifestyles are an adaptation for life in some of the most inhospitable places on earth [Music] hi i'm danielle and you're watching animal logic this week i'm teaming up with hope swinomer hi there it's hope calling back from hopeful wildlife hope swinomer runs an animal sanctuary and rehabilitation center called hope for wildlife in my home of the east coast of canada today we're talking all about marmots they're cool little animals a lot of people don't understand them or know a whole lot about them and people are fearful of them we laugh every year when we get those phone calls there's a groundhog in my yard what should i do marmots are a genus of ground squirrel which includes the groundhog and they're famous for their ability to tell humans when they can stop wearing their winter coats for every groundhog day or february 2nd the weather was listed if it was fair the groundhog would have seen his shadow and if it was cloudy he couldn't have seen his shadow but shadow or not the temperature never varied more than two degrees from normal the groundhog had nothing to do with spring weather they thrive in foothills valleys and meadows and can be found in areas with long cold winters with no available food for most of the year mermaids can't live in dense forests because they don't provide the variety of herbs grasses and fresh growth plants they need to survive their golden age was the pleistocene when glaciers covered most of eurasia and north america and marmots lived just south of the ice barrier [Music] but as the ice melted and forest grew mermits had to move to treeless mountaintops and steps of the 15 recognized marmot species only two live in plains the step marmot and the groundhog so we see everything here at hope for wildlife from bald eagles to owls to all the birds of prey we usually only see the groundhogs in the summer because they're they're busy sleeping through the winter and there are herbivores and so you know families don't really need to worry too much about children and interactions so i'll show you how i was doing it last night and it was working although i did get a lot over me and a lot over the animal but that's okay [Music] in the summer marmots eat as much as they can to put on as much weight as possible this is their way of storing energy for the winter over a summer adult marmots can double their weight and in some cases they can weigh over 13 kilograms about the same size as a french bulldog when it gets too cold for plants to grow marmots will go into their burrows and hibernate until their food is available again to save energy their metabolism slows down their heartbeat goes down to five beats per minute and they breathe only once every 20 seconds some species can hibernate for up to nine months having a very short feeding and growing season means that babies need at least two summers to reach maturity they hibernate with their moms during the first winter and are ready to leave after a year sharing burrows has led to marmots living in social groups in most marmot species female marmots stay with their mothers for at least three years helping them take care of their newborns european marmots like the alpine marmot are the most social species they live in multi-generational colonies with a dominant mating pair up to 20 individuals can live in a single borough at three years of age the males leave to try to mate with females from other colonies north american marmots live in smaller social groups it's usually just one male and a couple of reproducing females and their daughters the young become independent after one or two summers the only solitary marmot in the world is the groundhog found in north america east of the rockies they hibernate on their own and their young leave after just one summer they're also very territorial and fights for prime real estate are common living in big groups has lots of advantages huddling together helps them conserve heat in the winter and when they're out in the summer the whole family keeps an eye out for predators anything that's a carnivore it's a predator foxes bobcats a lot of the mammals that would hunt meat at the first sight of danger a quick series of high-pitched calls sends everyone sprinting for safety to avoid a predator they will run and get down in their holes because they really do want to run away but living in close quarters can be dangerous males fight for territory and for access to females these furry gladiators really do get out in some of the most intense and silly battles in the animal kingdom [Music] always [Music] in social species like the alpine marmot when new males take over a territory they kill all the pups this lowers the hibernation cost for females and makes them more likely to reproduce successfully the following year groundhogs being the hermits of the family have a different problem the pups are fully dependent on their mom if something happens to her they might not survive making noises [Music] they're cold as ice guys oh my gosh [Music] so sadly four days ago a pest control officer was hired to remove a groundhog that was digging up someone's paver stones and they didn't check for babies and four days later the gentleman hears the sound and investigates these guys have to be just born that poor mom she must be so upset i don't know i remember that day really well i was amazed that they were still alive and they had they had some life left in them so we started our emergency care right away and it just was one of those really happy stories i'm pretty tired i'm glad they're all together [Music] the vancouver island marmot is one of the rarest animals in the world and one of the most critically endangered animals here in canada in 2003 there was only 30 vancouver island marmots left in the wild thankfully the mermaid recovery foundation has been having a lot of success bringing this adorable species back from the brink their numbers have increased dramatically over the last 20 years and now there are over 200 living in the wild there's so many ways to live comfortably with nature and i think we've become fearful and you know we lack knowledge in a lot of cases so i really feel it's our job to get people reconnected [Music] be sure to watch hope for wildlife on the love nature channel for more amazing stories on wildlife rehabilitation what animals should i talk about next please let me know in the comments if you'd like to support animal logic and get some cool perks check us out on patreon be sure to subscribe for new episodes of animal logic every other week thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Animalogic

Views: 747,089

Rating: 4.9155245 out of 5

Keywords: animals, animal, logic, education, show, animalogic, crazy, ugly, weird, gross, beautiful, interesting, facts, animalsfacts, about, information, info, school, research, learn, learning, fun, easy, smart, snorlax, chonk, marmot, cute, fat, fuzzy, groundhog, ground, hog, day, metal, hope, for, wildlife, squirrel, rodent, winter, spring, shadow

Id: z1kwpEB_0Ro

Length: 8min 45sec (525 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/MeeKress]

Wow Danielle, you lost so much weight I hope you are well! You are perfect like you are. Love from Montréal in Québec