What Do Marmots Eat On Top Of Long's Peak?

Evan Horvath aka Evan1984 wrote: The really crazy critter is the glacial worm. They burrow through ice like normal worms go through dirt. They will overheat and die it you touch them, and their bodies have a type of chemical in them that keeps them from freezing. They eat pollen and spores that blow onto the ice from the vegetaion below. Evan

That is a rad animal! According to the Wikipedia not alot is known about them. Sounds like a sweet masters or Phd project to take underfoot. Hang out on amazing glaciated peaks studying an animal that only survives in sub freezing climates when all of a sudden ... Oops! Did I just F.A. new routes in Alaska, the Cascades, and Canada on University Scholarship dollars while proving the need to designate this an endangered species (due to glacial retreat) thus providing another link in the chain to substantiate the need to mitigate global climate changes affects on glaciers across North America?? Yes young Jedi, congratulations, you did just do that.

Marmots love Graham Crackers and singing~!

Graham cracker feasting mini-bear.

Is the apple on a stick overhanging a boulder just out of reach, all that evil??

I THINK NOT!!!

I have seen a marmot just get their ass flat out smackdown-kicked by another marmot.

I still get chills at the screams.

They ate the rubber grips off my trekking poles in RMNP.

They're damn lucky they're cute.

I had a group run interference on me while backpacking in the Mummy Range. Had four in my campsite. While I would shoo them away, they would take turns munching on the leather band on the inside of my climbing helmet.

Don't forget their cousin the porcupine. One ate my snowshoes one night at 11,000 ft and it sure was tough stumping through deep snow iin RMNP with no neoprene laces on them. Dam varmints! Reason to carry firearms in the national parks, eh?

this is a fun site.
marmotburrow.ucla.edu/

Dan Godshall wrote: Hey, nice marmot!

let's not forget Dude, keeping wildlife, an amphibious rodent, for uh, domestic, you know, within the city, that aint legal either.

My girl and I first encountered marmots in Yose last summer.

We had never seen them, and both thought they were pretty awesome. They can be a pain in the ass, but are also actually pretty cool creatures.

The males usually keep 2 females with them, and they tend to live in groups. They are pretty social, and in the morning will wander to other burrows to engage in mock wrestling matches that end with rubbing noses...pretty fun to watch, there are some videos on it.

While it's never a good idea to feed them, I have read that the healthiest thing you can give them to distract them is regular cheerios.

Love how easy it is to keep my girl happy, she just wanted a stuffed toy marmot for a souvenir of the trip. She named it Chuck and is actually curled up with it right now while sleeping *chuckles*

Anyways here are a couple of the marmots we encountered:

Our first Marmot sighting at one of the lookouts on the way down to the Valley, he was a big fat fellow.

And the infamous Half Dome marmot, he seems to get a lot of photo time. The Rangers were telling me he gets bored and runs down the cables once in a while during the day to check for goodies at the base and then runs back up again!

Photos both courtesy of my girl, Christina :)

"You lookin' at me??!"

Half Dome resident marmot.

I was literally in a tug-of-war with a marmot chewing on my hiking boot at Capitol Lake. I couldn't believe how determined he was.

As for Long's Peak, the marmots feast upon the last person to summit each day. So listen up kiddies, always get an early start.

They mainly eat lost tourist's children.

your backpack

....

damn marmots ate my avocado! i did half dome at night to get up for sunrise and when i got there i took a nap after eating half an avocado. i put it in between my hands and head and when i woke i up it was gone which means that either it was the marmots or the terrorists. most likely terrorists actually.

Avocado?? Man, that just wrong!

I'd like to test out the glide capability of the marmot from my portaledge. I'd need to run it on 30 of them to get a good sample set. I'm betting they can do it. I guess we'll see what the data shows....

They eat people. Like the bunny in The Holy Grail.Sorry. Good luck with your report. As you have probably figured out by now this is not the place to get the info your after. Funny stuff.

OK for closure, here is my son's Marmot Diorama. I still have no clue why Marmots are on top of Long's peak.

Kevin

Marmot diorama.

Those are pretty sweet mountains!

I'd give him an A!