Vancouver Island marmots are emerging from their winter hibernation. As often happens, some marmots emerge earlier than others, and many wake up briefly only to return to torpor for some time. Weather conditions in Vancouver Island’s alpine are within normal ranges for this time of year – that includes a fair amount of snow covering the ground.
Marmots are herbivores, with a wide ranging diet of leaves, grasses, shrubs, and even tree bark, and they are able to find food even with snow covering the ground. However, at several colonies, our field crews have set up feeders to provide the marmots with supplementary food. This extra, high quality food may help breeding age females improve their body condition quickly – and perhaps reproduce more often than normally would.
Waking up from hibernation is an important and challenging time for the Vancouver Island marmot. Their long winter sleep takes a toll on their bodies, and to recover from hibernation takes even more energy. The BBC produced an excellent segment on this challenge for their show ‘Animals: The Inside Story’