Critically Endangered
Vancouver Island marmot
Marmota vancouverensis
The Vancouver Island marmot is a marmot endemic to Vancouver Island, in British Columbia.
Appearance
It can however be distinguished from other marmots by its chocolate brown fur and contrasting white patches.
Even so, weights show tremendous seasonal variation. An adult female that weighs 3 kilograms (6.6 lb) when she emerges from hibernation in late April can weigh 4.5 to 5.5 kg (9.9 to 12.1 lb) by the onset of hibernation in late September or October.
Range and habitat
M. Vancouverensis lives above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) elevation in meadows that face south to west, and habitat scarceness is believed to be the primary reason for its rarity. Marmot surveys have been conducted on Vancouver Island since 1979. As of the fall of 2021, there were just over 250 wild marmots living in 25 colonies distributed between two metapopulations, and one isolated colony at Steamboat Mountain.
The Vancouver Island marmot is a marmot endemic to Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. Major predators upon Vancouver Island marmots include golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), cougars (Puma concolor) and wolves (Canis lupus).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Like all marmots, the Vancouver Island marmot is exclusively herbivorous. Vancouver Island marmots typically first breed at three or four years of age, although some have been observed to breed as two-year-olds.
Male marmots have been noticed to mate with 2 or more females during mating season. Marmots breed soon after emergence from hibernation.
In crisis
Causes of marmot population declines are numerous. One 2005 study concluded the main cause of recent decline to be predation "associated with forestry and altered predator abundance and hunting patterns". By 1997 their population had declined to the point that it became necessary to capture several individuals to create a "genetic lifeboat" for the eventual restoration of the wild population.
A census in late 2003 resulted in a count of only 21 wild marmots known to be present on four mountains of Vancouver Island. The cumulative captive breeding program has steadily grown, with 130 individuals in captivity (2010) and 442 weaned pups born in captivity since 2000.
Vancouver Island marmot is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Vancouver Island marmot, Wikidata item Q746636. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
