Forest-steppe marmot

The forest-steppe marmot is a rodent species of the marmot genus found in south-central Russia. It lives in wooded forest steppe at an altitude of in a relatively small region located directly east of the upper Ob River. It has traditionally been considered a subspecies of the similar, more southerly distributed gray marmot, but was separated mainly due to different diploid numbers.

Description

Forest-steppe marmots have a head-and-body length of, and light individuals weigh as little as in the spring and heavy individuals as much as in the autumn. It hibernates for about 6 months starting in August or September.

Population

In 2011, it was estimated that the forest-steppe marmot population consisted of about 14,000–16,000 individuals and had been stable over the last several decades, but earlier estimates have been both somewhat above and significantly below this figure.