Talk:Yellow-bellied marmot

Lifespan

How many years to marmots typically live? Livingnwt 21:46, 11 September 2007 (UTC)ca

My sources say 13 to 15 years, barring getting eaten before then. Added it to the article, good question. --Justin 02:23, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Major Yellow-Bellied Marmot News!

Major Yellow-Bellied Marmot Study Released! http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/66762/title/Getting_dissed_could_be_partly_genetic

Habitat range

The Yellow bellied marmot's range extends to elevations as low as 600 feet, such as in Eastern Washington (see depts.washington.edu/.../yellow-bellied_marmot_712.html). (They thrive at our park with an elevation of 700-800 feet.) Pfn1188 (talk) 16:53, 26 January 2011 (UTC)P. Neddo (Park ranger)

Hello Ranger Neddo! Thanks for your interest in this article, and specifically this reference. I tried to make it work, how can I make the link work? I tried selecting and Googling it, and I got lots of hits, but I couldn't find the page at washington.edu that you gave us just here above. Can you help me? Thanks again! Chrisrus (talk) 03:30, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Bit late but if it can help: Here is the page. Fabriced28 (talk) 16:11, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, Spokane is full of wild marmots, we have some living in a construction site out my apartment window, and a bunch more living in a hospital parking lot nearby. Coming from CO where marmots are rare mountain creatures it's totally nuts to us but most people here I guess think they're normal — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.31.165.39 (talk) 00:06, 27 April 2021 (UTC)

Intent

Saying that they nest in a particular way to avoid predators or that they whistle to warn others is a bit of a reach. Thee could be many reasons why they nest where they nest. And whistling to warn others....there's no evolutionary basis for that. More likely they whistle to scare the others into running; thus the predator is distracted from the whistler and now looking at multiple targets...classic predator dilution. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.3.3.44 (talk) 01:24, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

There's been some research about prairie dogs' whistling as having language-like abilities. "hawk 3 oclock, hide" "fuck it's a human with a gun". I would like to see cites added if any body is doing research about language-like whistles by mountain marmots. They are close relatives of the prarie dog and have a similar social structure. My family has been friends with a family of mountain marmots in meeker park CO for over 50 years. robbin stewart gtbear at gmail 9/2017. adding: https://www.eeb.ucla.edu/Faculty/Blumstein/MarmotsOfRMBL/

"Communication: Our studies of marmots have allowed us to test fundamental questions in the study of antipredator communication. We know that marmots emit alarm calls, potentially risky signals that may increase exposure to predators, to warn vulnerable offspring. We know that a considerable amount of information is contained in these calls that includes information about the caller's identity, age, sex, and the degree of risk the caller experiences when calling. We are also beginning to learn about what acoustical attributes communicate fear. Read more about this work in Blumstein 2007 and Blumstein & Récapet 2009." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.90.218.99 (talk) 17:16, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

File:Marmota flaviventris (Yellow Bellied Marmot), Yosemite NP - Diliff.jpg to appear as POTD

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Marmota flaviventris (Yellow Bellied Marmot), Yosemite NP - Diliff.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on January 5, 2015. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2015-01-05. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 12:40, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Picture of the day

The yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) is a ground squirrel in the marmot genus. Found in the western United States and southwestern Canada, including the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, these marmots live in colonies of about ten to twenty individuals, typically located in open areas at least 6,500 feet (2,000 m) above sea level.Photograph: David Iliff

Williams Lake, BC

We have a small colony living on South Lakeside, near Walmart. They are nicknamed the Walmarmots! If you can't open your mind then shut your mouth (talk) 20:06, 27 June 2016 (UTC)

Elevation range misleading

The elevation range listed in the "Distribution and habitat" section is misleading because it refers to a Colorado-specific source. Yellow-bellied marmots are found at much lower elevations elsewhere, especially in Oregon and Washington. (Bend, Oregon, for instance: [1].) 167.131.0.195 (talk) 19:15, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

I changed the text to say "in Colorado", although I don't have access to that source and thus can't confirm exactly what it says. They're certainly common at the lower elevations I live at in BC, but I can't quickly find a source to support that. —Alex (Ashill | talk | contribs) 20:24, 15 July 2021 (UTC)

I found a news article saying they are found at low elevations in eastern Washington. It's not the best source, but I think reliable enough for this purpose. A better source would be great. —Alex (Ashill | talk | contribs) 20:31, 15 July 2021 (UTC)