Marmot

Marmot
Marmot
Temporal range: Late Miocene–Recent
Yellow-bellied Marmot in Yosemite National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Subfamily: Xerinae
Tribe: Marmotini
Genus: Marmota
Blumenbach, 1779
Species

Marmota baibacina
Marmota bobak
Marmota broweri
Marmota caligata
Marmota camtschatica
Marmota caudata
Marmota flaviventris
Marmota himalayana
Marmota marmota
Marmota menzbieri
Marmota monax
Marmota olympus
Marmota sibirica
Marmota vancouverensis

The marmots are a genus, Marmota, of squirrels. There are 14 species in this genus.

Marmots are generally large ground squirrels. Those most often referred to as marmots tend to live in mountainous areas such as the Alps, northern Apennines, Eurasian steppes, Carpathians, Tatras, and Pyrenees in Europe and northwestern Asia; the Rocky Mountains, Black Hills, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada in North America; and the Deosai Plateau in Pakistan and Ladakh in India. The groundhog, however, is also properly called a marmot, while the similarly sized but more social prairie dog is not classified in the genus Marmota but in the related genus Cynomys.

Marmots typically live in burrows (often within rockpiles, particularly in the case of the Yellow-bellied marmot), and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social, and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed.

Marmots mainly eat greens and many types of grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots and flowers.

Contents

Species

The following is a list of all Marmota species recognized by Thorington and Hoffman (2005).[1] They divide marmots into two subgenera.

Additionally, four extinct species of marmot are recognized from the fossil record:

  • Marmota arizonae, Arizona, U.S.
  • Marmota minor, Nevada, U.S.
  • Marmota robusta, China
  • Marmota vestus, Nebraska, U.S.

History and etymology

Marmota primigenia fossil

Marmots have been known since antiquity. Research by the French ethnologist Michel Peissel makes a claim that the story of "gold-digging ants" reported by the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC, was founded on the golden Himalayan Marmot of the Deosai plateau and the habit of local tribes such as the Minaro to collect the gold dust excavated from their burrows.[2]

The etymology of the term "marmot" is uncertain. It may have arisen from the Gallo-Romance prefix marm-, meaning to mumble or murmur (an example of onomatopoeia). Another possible origin is post-classical Latin, mus montanus, meaning "mountain mouse".[3]

Beginning in 2010, Alaska celebrates February 2 as "Marmot Day", a holiday intended to observe the prevalence of marmots in that state and take the place of Groundhog Day.[4]

Human consumption

Marmots have been eaten for centuries in the native cuisine of Mongolia, where they are called tarvaga, and in particular are used to make a dish called boodog.[5] Hunting of marmots for food is typically done in seasons and time periods when the animals are heavier.[example needed]

Carriers of plague

Pneumonic plague can be spread by marmots.[6][7]

Examples of species

References

  1. ^ Thorington, R. W., Jr., and R. S. Hoffman. 2005. "Family Sciuridae". Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, pp. 754–818. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
  2. ^ Peissel, Michel. "The Ants' Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas". Collins, 1984. ISBN 978-0002725149.
  3. ^ "Marmot". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
  4. ^ The Associated Press. "Alaska to Celebrate its First Marmot Day", Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Feb. 1, 2010. Accessed Feb. 1, 2010.
  5. ^ "Boodog: Hot Stones in Stomach". Cuisine of Mongolia. http://www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/boodog.html. Retrieved 2009-11-27. 
  6. ^ "Plague breaks out in China's Tibet". The Sydney Morning Herald. September 26, 2010. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/plague-breaks-out-in-chinas-tibet-20100926-15s6z.html. 
  7. ^ The Shifting Explanations for the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague in Human History

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • marmot — [ marmo ] n. m. • 1493 « singe »; p. ê. de marmotter « à cause des mouvements continuels que les singes font avec leurs babines » (O. Bloch) 1 ♦ (1640) Fam. Petit garçon. Au plur. Enfants, sans distinction de sexe. ⇒ marmaille. « les marmots… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • marmot — MARMOT. s. m. Espece de singe qui a barbe &. longue queüe. Gros marmot. laid comme un marmot. Marmot, signifie aussi, Petite figure grotesque de pierre, de bois &c. Il a bien des marmots dans son cabinet. On dit fig. Croquer le marmot, pour dire …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • marmot — mar mot (m[aum]r m[o^]t; 277), n. [It. marmotta, marmotto, prob. fr. L. mus montanus, or mus montis, lit., mountain mouse or rat. See {Mountain}, and {Mouse}.] 1. (Zo[ o]l.) Any rodent of the genus {Marmota} (formerly {Arctomys}) of the subfamily …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Marmot — Mountain, LLC. Rechtsform Limited Liability Company Gründung 1974 Sitz Santa Rosa, Kalifornien Leitung Eric Reynolds Dave Huntley …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • marmot — Alpine rodent, c.1600, from Fr. marmotte, from Romansch (Swiss) murmont (assimilated to O.Fr. marmote monkey ), from L. murem montis mountain mouse …   Etymology dictionary

  • marmot — ► NOUN ▪ a heavily built burrowing rodent. ORIGIN French marmotte, from Latin mus montanus mountain mouse …   English terms dictionary

  • marmot — [mär′mət] n. [Fr marmotte < earlier marmottaine, prob. < L mus montanus, mountain mouse] any of a genus (Marmota) of thick bodied, gnawing, burrowing squirrels with coarse fur and a short, bushy tail, as the woodchuck …   English World dictionary

  • marmot — (mar mot ; le t ne se lie pas ; au pluriel, l s se lie : des mar mo z ennuyeux ; marmots rime avec faux, sauts, repos, etc.) s. m. 1°   Anciennement, nom du singe. •   Boucs sautants, satyres, marmots et semblables peintures de galeries, NAUDÉ… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • marmot — /mahr meuht/, n. 1. any bushy tailed, stocky rodent of the genus Marmota, as the woodchuck. 2. any of certain related animals, as the prairie dogs. [1600 10; < F marmotte, OF, appar. n. deriv. of marmotter to mutter, murmur (referring to the… …   Universalium

  • MARMOT — s. m. Espèce de singe qui a une barbe et une longue queue. Gros marmot. Laid comme un marmot. MARMOT, se dit aussi d Une petite figure grotesque, de pierre, de bois, etc. Il a bien des marmots dans son cabinet.   Il se dit, figurément et… …   Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, 7eme edition (1835)

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