@marmotrecovery
The Vancouver Island marmot is one of the rarest mammals on the planet. Our mission is to save the wild population from extinction. Your support makes it possible for us to save this species!
A young Vancouver Island marmot chews on a biscuit.
Our supplemental feeding is especially targeted to these females in hopes that the easily available extra nutrition gives them the boost they need to support a litter. However, we see that young marmots, also enjoy the biscuits!
A pup comes for a visit with Mom. Photo Jordan Cormack.
Wake up time is also breeding time for marmots. This is especially demanding for females who have to support a pregnancy and breastfeeding pups before they have recovered from hibernation. Females often skip a year of reproduction to regain enough body condition to support another litter.
A marmot pokes its head above a ridgeline of snow with snow covered mountains in the background.
During hibernation, the marmots spend 6 to 7 months underground living entirely on stored body reserves. By the time they emerge, they have lost 30 to 50 percent of their body mass. Photo Ryan Tidman.
A young, hungry Vancouver Island marmot nibbles on a biscuit as the snow falls.
A young, hungry Vancouver Island marmot nibbles on a biscuit as the snow falls. The marmots still have another month or more of hibernation, but when they do wake up, they will be hungry. Hibernation sounds pleasant, but it is terribly demanding on a marmot’s body. Photo Ryan Tidman.
Vancouver Island Violet's "more winter" prediction once again correct. Some were doubting her while we were in the midst of a mild winter (ahem, @timescolonist.bsky.social). The alpine snow is welcome, at least for now!
www.timescolonist.com/local-news/a...
Other Vancouver Island marmot love advice, such as, "pushing is a sign of affection" and "drive off rivals aggressively, inflicting serious bite wounds if necessary," feels increasingly dubious. But booping is solid counsel.
A mom and pup Vancouver Island marmot boop noses. It is really sweet, the kind of conclusion that scientists are not supposed to reach, but is sometimes unavoidable.
"Boop your loved ones often." Vancouver Island Marmot wisdom for #Valentines
An exceptionally fierce, though rather tiny, Saw-whet Owl sitting on a fence post. It is very fierce, you should watch out.
In honour of #SuperbOwl Day, here is an exceptionally fierce, though rather tiny, Saw-whet Owl that greeted us at the trailhead one morning years ago.
A picture of the cover of the Marmot Recovery Foundation's 2025 Annual Report with the title and our logo in a bluish side bar to the right and mountains below, and a photo of a very nice marmot to the left (Tobias for the record).
Our 2025 Annual Report is up! You can read and look at all sorts of tables and graphs about our work over the past year, and how it is impacting the wild population of the critically endangered Vancouver Island Marmot.
Plus there are pictures of marmots.
marmots.org/annual-repor...
Q: What’s next for Violet? A: It’s back to hibernation to sleep through the next 6 weeks of winter, plus another 6 weeks for good measure. In April or May, she will emerge, hopefully ready to produce another litter of pups!
There are only 427 Vancouver Island marmots in the wild today, but even that small number is an improvement from 2003, when fewer than 30 were left.
Q: I heard Violet was endangered. Is that true? A: Unfortunately, yes. Vancouver Island marmots like Violet are critically endangered. Violet is helping the species recover by producing pups that are released to the wild.
Q: Is Violet a Groundhog? A: It’s complicated. She’s a Vancouver Island Marmot, which is pretty Groundhoggy, but “proper” Groundhogs are an Eastern marmot. All Groundhogs are marmots, but not all marmots are groundhogs (though they’ve probably been inaccurately called a Groundhog at some point).
Violet has pre-emptively answered some your Groundhog Day questions.
Q: How accurate are Violet’s predictions? A: Violet started her position at Groundhog Day marmot in 2022, and has called for more winter every time. She’s been right each time too. 100% accuracy!
It’s Groundhog Day! Vancouver Island Violet has made her prediction! Six more weeks of winter! This was confirmed by her mate Phillip who also got in the weather prediction action. Watch here:
Q: I heard Violet was endangered. Is that true? A: Unfortunately, yes. Vancouver Island marmots like Violet are critically endangered. Violet is helping the species recover by producing pups that are released to the wild.
Q: Is Violet a Groundhog? A: It’s complicated. She’s a Vancouver Island Marmot, which is pretty Groundhoggy, but “proper” Groundhogs are an Eastern marmot. All Groundhogs are marmots, but not all marmots are groundhogs (though they’ve probably been inaccurately called a Groundhog at some point).
Violet has pre-emptively answered some your Groundhog Day questions.
Q: How accurate are Violet’s predictions? A: Violet started her position at Groundhog Day marmot in 2022, and has called for more winter every time. She’s been right each time too. 100% accuracy!
Definitely a typo. We try very hard not to disturb their hibernation. Health checkups during hibernation ensure individuals and the rest of the marmots in hibernation stay healthy.
Sometimes they asked questions like: "what will the next 6 weeks of weather be like" during that process too. We work very hard to ensure they are disturbed.
We weigh all of our hibernating Marmots once a month to ensure they are losing weight at a appropriate rate and in physically good condition. Sometimes they are subjected to photos during that process.
Alt text for that second photo: Violet and her litter mates back in 2022 making hibernation look like a fun chill thing to do, and not an insanely demanding metabolic process that brings marmots virtually to death's door every winter.
She’s chill! Man, it was right in front of me. Literally, her body temperature is currently a chill 6 degrees Celsius. Which is really pretty darn chill for a living mammal.
Marmot Keeper Tawny holds Violet for a checkup. Note this is an old photo, taken in 2022 when Violet was just a year old.
Groundhog Day is Monday! Vancouver Island Violet is so excited! …. I’m sorry. That is a lie. Violet is not excited, she’s hibernating. It’s like … the opposite of excited? No, that’s not right. Hibernating is antithetical to excited.
These little guys would be your coworkers! Are we talking about the marmot or the mosquitos? Yes. Yes we are.
A wildlife technician hikes on the side a steep rocky cliff above the trees.
Three technicians work in the fog to release a marmot to a nest box.
If you love wildlife conservation and mountains, consider working for us this summer! We are seeking 1 to 2 seasonal Wildlife Technicians to join our team. Deadline for applications is Feb 17th. marmots.org/recovery-eff...
Violet will have a cheering* crowd for sure! (*not actually cheering. Sleeping. Hibernating. Studiously ignoring any frivolousness. But present! And that's something for a critically endangered species!)
Violet will have a cheering* crowd for sure! (*not actually cheering. Sleeping. Hibernating. Studiously ignoring any frivolousness. But present! And that's something for a critically endangered species!)
The 2026 Winter Olympics start in just over a week, and no Vancouver Island marmot has yet been named to the Canadian Olympic roster. To be fair, they haven't checked their mail since going into hibernation.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilV2...
DYK that marmots hunt in packs? Probably not, because I just made that up. But it does kind of look like this pair of marmots moving in sync are stalking something. Perhaps an especially trickesy lupin or sedge.
It is National Squirrel Appreciation Day. We appreciate all squirrels, but of course we have a special place in our hearts for the largest of all squirrels - marmots! Really, how could you not appreciate them?
