The first ever Fat Marmot Week begins on Monday, giving the long-running Fat Bear Week some stiff competition. The online contest lets people vote for their favourite Alaskan brown bear that has piled on pounds ahead of winter, a tradition that has grown in popularity since 2014. Now researchers hope to repeat that success with marmots.
Marmots in decline after harsh winter
Marmots are cat-sized ground squirrels, related to the groundhog, that live in burrows across North America, Europe and Asia. Last winter was especially tough on marmots in the mountains of Colorado, where researchers believe two thirds of the population died while hibernating because of insufficient snow cover. The survivors have managed to fatten up ahead of this year's hibernation season, sparking enough interest for the very first Fat Marmot Week.
Serious side behind the fun
While the contest is mostly for fun, it also has a serious element. Scientists need donations for their long-running research into the animals following federal funding cuts. Marmots are known to live in "flexibly social" groups, sometimes intermingling in colonies of up to 30 where they get into dramatic situations similar to soap operas.
"In some sense, we’re going to be laughing our way down as the Titanic sinks," commented San Blumstein, leader of the project at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado. "Because what else are you going to do?"
