These marmot photos were recently submitted to us by Mark Margerison (http://highlightstudio.ca/). They are fantastic photos, but for us they provide a treasure trove of information.
The ear tag allowed us to identify Arwen. The other photos show that she is spending time with a friend or paramour (who just might be Edgar – but that marmot’s ear tag is missing, so they are still a question mark).
Knowing that Arwen and an unknown adult marmot are hanging around together is huge help as we plan where to release marmots (we don’t want to disturb an established couple!), and who to target with supplemental food (we do want to support a potential marmot mom that may have pups in her burrow!).
If you see a marmot while hiking on Vancouver Island, please let us know. And take a picture! They don’t have to be professional quality to help guide our recovery efforts! You can fill out the form at https://marmots.org/observer-program/, email, or call us.
That’s Arwen! These metal tags are not the easiest to read at first, but other tags we’ve used get dirty so fast they become unreadable even in ideal conditions.
Is that Edgar? We can’t be sure.
