ONH - Olympic Marmot

Olympic Marmot

Marmota olympus

1635
1 - Olympic Marmot Marmota olympus
07/16/2013 Hurricane Hill Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
0028
2 - Olympic Marmot, a typical distant view.
06/19/2007 Hurricane Hill Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
0077
3 - Olympic Marmot, showing ear tag.
06/19/2007 Hurricane Hill Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
0078
4 - Olympic Marmot, showing ear tag. Same individual as in slide 4.
06/19/2007 Hurricane Hill Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
0161
5 - Olympic Marmot.
08/07/2011 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1620955
6 - Olympic Marmot.
09/11/2017 Hurricane Hill Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
0024
7 - Olympic Marmot, showing partly changed coat color.
09/27/2009 Obstruction Point Road, Olympic National Park, Washington
marmotcoat
8 - Olympic Marmot. D. G. Elliot’s comments on the coat color change Olympic Marmots undergo in Catalogue of Mammals from the Olympic Mountains Washington With Descriptions of New Species, 1899.
7967
9 - Olympic Marmot partial skull photographed as it was found lying on rock between crystals and lichen.
07/09/2006 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850368
10 - Olympic Marmot in a meadow with Dwarf Blueberry Vaccinium caespitosum, which has leaves that turn red in the fall.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850471
11 - Olympic Marmot gathering grass in a meadow. Slides 11 - 14 are in sequence.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850571
12 - Olympic Marmot gathering grass in a meadow. Slides 11 - 14 are in sequence.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850601
13 - Olympic Marmot gathering grass in a meadow. Slides 11 - 14 are in sequence.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850646
14 - Olympic Marmot bringing a mouthful of grass to a burrow. Slides 11 - 14 are in sequence.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850418
15 - Young Olympic Marmot at the mouth of another burrow.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850802
16 - Young Olympic Marmot at the mouth of a burrow. An adult (not the one in slides 11-14) brings a mouthful of grass to the burrow.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850817
17 - Young Olympic Marmot at the mouth of a burrow. An adult (not the one in slides 11-14) brings a mouthful of grass to the burrow.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
1850825
18 - Young Olympic Marmot at the mouth of a burrow. An adult (not the one in slides 11-14) brings a mouthful of grass to the burrow.
07/18/2018 Obstruction Point Area, Olympic National Park, Washington
Content Slide

19 - Olympic Marmot adult and young at the mouth of a burrow. 09/18/2018

The Olympic Marmot (Marmota olympus) occurs only in the high country of the Olympic Mountains. The marmots live in colonies in several easily accessible areas in in the Hurricane Ridge area at or above 5,000 feet elevation, including the meadows near the Hurricane Ridge Lodge. Marmots mostly remain within their colony, rarely interacting with colonies any distance away.

In past years, many Olympic Marmots had ear tags, but by 2015 tagging had ceased, so it would be rare to see a tagged individual (slides 3, 4 and 5).

Over the course of a season, marmot coats change from gold to dark brown, starting at the head end (slide 7). D. G. Elliot commented on this coat color change in Catalogue of Mammals from the Olympic Mountains Washington With Descriptions of New Species, 1899 (slide 8 ).

Slides 11 - 19 show marmots gathering grass in mid September (not long before snowfall at this elevation in the Olympic mountains). David P. Barash writes that adult females with young gather mostly dry grass and bring it to their burrows, presumably for food or bedding. They sometimes travel some distance from their burrows to find the right grass. MARMOTS Social Behavior and Ecology, 1989