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Yellow-bellied marmot at Kamalaka Lake Provincial Park near Vernon, BC.

Climbing to a better viewpoint is not uncommon in the animal kingdom, but it was funny to see a yellow-bellied marmot doing it.  It makes me think of meercats climbing on top of nearby people to get a better vantage point.  While meercats tend to live on savannahs where there are few elevation changes, even from rocky outcrops or the occasional tree, our local marmot populations have plenty of structures to climb.  The difference is that I have never seen one, even in photos, actually doing it.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this fellow, about 200 feet away from me in a clearing, taking it upon himself to climb a bench.  As I researched the notion of marmots looking for higher "perches", I discovered that these rather large rodents do, on occasion, climb trees.  

Oh, they like to sun themselves on rocks to be sure.  I have seen plenty of that, but the rocks are always barely taller than they are on all fours.  Add to that the fact that rocks in sunny spots tend to be warmer than the ambient temperature and you have a recipe for an elevated marmot.  By comparison though, this fellow on the top of a bench had just climbed a mountain.

The reason for it would be, I suppose, the need to look out for predators.  There were numerous marmots scurrying around the clearing and this one was by far in the best position to view the terrain and give the call for retreat if needed.  Then, with all haste, he and his fellow marmots would scurry off to their protective dens below the earth to live for another day.  They aren't very brave, they are yellow-bellied after all.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com



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