Colorado marmots participate in Fat Marmot Week

The Marmot Project at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory is hosting Fat Marmot Week to raise awareness for yellow-bellied Colorado marmots. The initiative highlights the biological necessity for these animals to gain significant weight during the summer months to survive hibernation.

Marmots are true hibernators that spend approximately half of the year in a deep slumber. During this period, their body temperatures drop to match the ambient temperature of their underground burrows, and their breathing slows significantly. To prepare, marmots consume double their body weight during the summer, eventually losing between 30 and 50 percent of that mass during hibernation.

Established in 1962, the Marmot Project is one of the world's longest-running studies of individually marked mammals. The research focuses on how marmots communicate, behave, and adapt to environmental changes. As part of the current event, the public can vote for their favorite marmot from a bracket of eight candidates.