page_title: Long-tailed marmot
section_title: Ecology and behaviour
hierarchical_section_title: Long-tailed marmot / Ecology and behaviour
caption_attribution_description: English: Rare snow leopard (Panthera uncia) footage from the wild. A research camera in Kyrgyzstan captures a wild snow leopard going on the hunt... and coming back a few minutes later with its prey – a big, tasty marmot (Marmota caudata). Footage courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard Foundation Kyrgyzstan, Sarychat Ertash Nature Reserve, Woodland Park Zoo. Video by Koustubh Sharma.
context_page_description: The long-tailed marmot or golden marmot is a marmot species in the family Sciuridae.
  It occurs in mountainous regions in the central parts of Asia where it lives in open or lightly wooded habitats, often among rocks where dwarf junipers grow. It is IUCN Red Listed as Least Concern. As suggested by its name, it is a relatively long-tailed species of marmot.
context_section_description: The long-tailed marmot usually forms monogamous relationships but lives in larger social groups, with up to seven adults sharing a single home range. These individuals are likely to be related to each other with young adults normally only dispersing after they have become fully grown at three or more years of age. Adult immigrants are tolerated in the group but only a single adult female normally lactates and rears young in any one season.
  Home ranges of the long-tailed marmot average about three hectares (7.5 acres) and contain about three burrow systems (range one to six). In a chamber in one of these burrows the marmots hibernate from about September to April or May, a period during which the ground is covered with snow for much of the time. Different burrows may be used for hibernation in different years. Mating occurs in late April and early May and may take place underground before the marmots emerge from the burrow after the winter. The gestation period is about four and a half weeks and the litter of about four pups emerges from the nest at about six weeks of age. Only about half of the pups survive the summer, some being consumed by predators and others being killed by adult males joining the group. Most adults survive the hibernation period but a rather higher proportion of juveniles die during their first winter. Females do not usually breed as three-year-olds but wait till the following year.
  The long-tailed marmot is diurnal and feeds on plant material. It is most active in the morning when about 40% of the time is spent foraging. After emerging from the burrow, the marmot spreads out and do not forage as a group. Food is either collected from the ground by the mouth or plucked from taller plants. Between bouts of foraging, a marmot sometimes stands on its back legs and surveys its surroundings. Group members communicate with each other, emitting complex alarm calls when predators are spotted. They also react to alarm calls of neighbouring groups.
caption: Marmot hunted by a snow leopard in Kyrgyzstan
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