Yellow-bellied marmots don’t usually come this far north so UNBC prof wonders how it got here.<\/p>\n
Being a social creature, the recently discovered yellow-bellied marmot living at the university\u2019s campus in Prince George might be lonely.<\/p>\n
Usually the large, social, ground squirrel only comes as far north as Williams Lake.<\/p>\n
As with most things nowadays the sighting was announced online.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe iNaturalist website is a site where people can report sightings of all kinds of life forms \u2013 all plants and animals – and that\u2019s how we first discovered that this little critter was living on campus,\u201d Jamie Gorrell, UNBC associate professor, ecosystem science and management, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody had actually seen it and posted a photo of it on that website.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yellow-bellied marmots are extremely social, he\u00a0added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not meant to live solo and this one appears to be solo,\u201d Gorrell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYellow-bellies can be in large, multi-generational families, up to 40 individuals together, so this is kind of the opposite of that. So this little guy \u2013 we don\u2019t know if it\u2019s male or female \u2013 this little dude showed up and appears to be living on the hillside next to the building by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing to be done to help the marmot other than to leave him in peace so Gorrell put up some yellow tape to caution people not to approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no risk of him damaging anything and we\u2019re just happy to give him space and leave him alone,\u201d Gorrell said.<\/p>\n
The yellow-bellied marmot is a herbivore so he just eats grass and flowers, Gorrell added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he\u2019s on this grassy hill and we\u2019ve noticed there are no dandy lions in front of the burrow but there are some further down the hill,\u201d Gorrell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re assuming he\u2019s weeding the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n
Typically yellow-bellied marmots hibernate for seven or eight months of the year, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo basically they come up in May, they usually mate and then they put on fat \u2013 they will double or triple their body size and then they\u2019ll go back into hibernation in September and sleep all winter,\u201d Gorrell said.<\/p>\n
As discussions have come up about the little beastie someone came forward with a photo from last August where they had spotted the marmot.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that means he survived the winter here,\u201d Gorrell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he must have hibernated in that spot and people who had seen him didn\u2019t recognize the significance of the sighting and what\u2019s really neat and scary is that it\u2019s so much further north than normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which begs the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did it get here and how did it survive here?\u201d Gorrell asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s cute but at the same time it\u2019s a concern in the sense that it is an example of how the climate is warming \u2013 that species are moving further north.\u201d<\/p>\n
The marmot spotted at the Prince George campus has been named Dutni (duht-nee), which is the Dakelh word for marmot.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned for the webcam that will soon be set up so people can watch the marmot in action at his home on university hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome people to come up and see it but please maintain a respectful distance,\u201d Gorrell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to spook it or have it move away because it\u2019s getting disturbed too much.\u201d<\/p>\n