Winter is not an easy time for animals living in Mount Rainier National Park. The higher in elevation you go, the tougher the winter can be, measuring snow in feet, sometimes up to 15 or 20 feet deep. In higher elevations, like Paradise in the sub-alpine, the snow and cold temperatures might last from mid-October into June. A little extreme, don’t you think?
But some critters like life extreme. One who does is the hoary marmot, Marmota caligata.
Sure, they’re not a large animal. Maybe the size of a big house cat (20 inches long including tail, 10-20 pounds), hoary marmots don’t look like fierce winter survivalists, but they are. All summer, they are hustling to eat as much grass, leaves, flowers, and seeds to pack on the pounds. Sometimes they gain as much as 50% of their weight.
Once the wintry weather begins, hoary marmots dive into their burrows. They cuddle up close with other members of the colony and begin their long seasonal hibernation. Though they come out of hibernation every couple weeks, typically marmots won’t leave their burrow until Spring, warmer temperatures, and snow melt have begun.
So do you think you would have what it takes to spend a winter like a marmot? How do you deal with the extreme winters like those at Paradise? ~ams
P.S. Please remember that though they seem docile, hoary marmots are wild animals. Help keep wildlife wild by not feeding the marmots.
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