Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! The marmots are sleeping right now, but marmot love is still in air! Here are a few of the things we’ve observed as we watched the marmots from afar.
That “Marmot Kiss”. We regularly observe marmots touching noses. It is almost always pups with a parent or between a pair of bonded adults. We call this pair bonding – an activity that strengthens the relationship between a pair of marmots. It is just as sweet to see in the wild as you expect.
Marmots who Sleep Together Stay Together. Marmots who hibernate in the same burrow often become a pair (hopefully with pups). We’ve observed a number of occasions when seen two marmots who couldn’t stand each other in the fall, but hibernate in the same burrow, have a change of heart when they wake up. Sometimes they even go on to raise pups together. (It must be noted that this is always what happens. Some marmots are just not compatible, no matter what!)
A marmot is never too old for love. This winter, two of our favorite marmots are hibernating together, and our fingers are crossed for pups in the spring. One the of the remarkable things about this pair is that the female is Muffin. She is 12 years old – one of the oldest wild marmots ever!
Sometimes you to have go looking for love. That marmot hibernating with Muffin? That’s Alan the Bamfield Marmot! Alan is quite the traveler, having found his way first to coast. Then after we relocated him to Haley Bowl, he had explore alllllllll the nearby colonies before coming full circle last spring and falling in with Muffin at Haley. Will he settle down? We think so, as he and Muffin have spent a lot of time together this past summer.
To further the recovery our favorite marmot, we have additional need for marmot care at our Mount Washington Centre, and are seeking a Marmot Keeper. Interested? Read on! Know someone who would be perfect? Please share!
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: February 18th, 2019
The Marmot Recovery Foundation is seeking a qualified individual to provide seasonal animal care to captive Vancouver Island Marmots at the Tony Barrett Mount Washington Marmot Recovery Centre on Vancouver Island. We are looking for an enthusiastic, passionate and responsible person to work on a unique captive breeding and reintroduction program involving a critically endangered Canadian species.
Contract length: Approximately May 1 to September 30, 2019, with some possibility of extension through October.
Contract structure: Fixed-term employment contract, starting at $2,780/month.
Qualifications:
Main tasks and responsibilities include:
This work is based at Mount Washington on Vancouver Island (near Courtenay, BC). Although the position is typically five days per week, there will be a requirement to work some weekends and holidays, with occasional long days involving early mornings and late evenings. Suitable candidates will be expected to have some schedule flexibility.
To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information for three references to the Project Veterinarian / Captive Breeding Co-ordinator Dr. Malcolm McAdie at: animalcare@marmots.org. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.
We are now accepting applications for our summer field team!
The Marmot Recovery Foundation is seeking summer wildlife technicians. We are looking for enthusiastic, hard-working individuals that have a passion for wildlife conservation, love to work outdoors, and want to contribute to the success of our exciting recovery program.
Number of positions: 1-4 full-time, short-term positions.
Contract length: May 1 – August 31, 2019, with some possibility of extension through September.
Contract structure: Fixed-term employment contract, starting at $2,780/month.
Project base: Nanaimo, Vancouver Island.
Main tasks and responsibilities include:
This project is based in central Nanaimo. Meeting times can be as early as 4am and field days can be very long. In the past, we have hired exceptional individuals that lived outside of Nanaimo; however, all candidates MUST expect to drive to Nanaimo for the start of each field day. No reimbursement for personal fuel or mileage will be offered. Due to the short length of the field season and the high likelihood that weather will change work plans and scheduled days off, candidates cannot be assured of conventional weekends and must be flexible to work at any time during the contract period.
Successful candidates will possess:
To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information for three references to the Field Coordinator, Mike Lester, at: resumes@marmots.org.
Applications must be received by 4pm Monday, February 11. Only those applicants chosen for interviews will be contacted. We anticipate scheduling interviews in the week of February 25. Some positions may be funded by Summer Jobs Canada. Additional eligibility requirements may apply. Short-listed candidates will be invited to a non-mandatory field experience day in late February. This event will facilitate candidate demonstration of backcountry fitness and aptitude for learning specialist techniques.
We use this picture a lot. It is a beautiful photo by Oli Gardner of a mom and pup pair bonding in typical Vancouver Island Marmot style by touching noses. But the photograph takes on more meaning when you understand the story of the marmots captured in it too.
The marmot mom on the right is Haida, the first captive-bred female to wean pups successfully in the wild. On the left is one of those pups.
Haida was born at the Mountain View Conservation Centre in 2002. Two years later, she was among the very first marmots released. At the time, we did not have much experience breeding marmots, and Haida was in the just second group of marmots ever to be released. In her case, her new wild home was Haley Lake Ecological Reserve, a park reserve created specifically to protect prime marmot habitat.
We have learned a lot since those first releases: the best age, time of year for the release, and how to minimize the marmot’s stress. Looking back, there are things we would do differently now. Despite these challenges and needing to learn to survive in the wild for the first time, Haida thrived in her new home.
She produced her first litter in 2006, and one of those pups is what you are looking at here. It is just possible the pictured pup is another remarkable marmot, Muffin. Muffin still lives at Haley Lake; now 12 years old herself. Currently she is hibernating with Alan, and we are hoping that the pair produce a litter of pups in the summer. If they do, it will add another chapter to Haida’s considerable legacy.
In 2014, when Haida was at the advanced age of 12, veterinarian Malcolm McAdie recalls Haida would still get into mischief. “She would she would sit and wait while we baited the traps with peanut butter and then get caught repeatedly,” he says.
Haida passed away a few years ago, but her contribution to the recovery of her species lives on.
