Alaska marmot

The Alaska marmot (Marmota broweri), also called the Brooks Range marmot, is a heavy-bodied ground-dwelling rodent of the squirrel family Sciuridae that lives only in northern and central Alaska. It was once treated as a form of the hoary marmot and was raised to full species rank on the strength of differences in its chromosomes. Colonies of several families live on boulder fields, rock slides and talus slopes of alpine tundra at about 1,000 to 1,200 metres, usually near lakes, where the grey fur blends in among the rocks. The animals eat grasses, flowers, fruits, seeds, lichen and the occasional insect, post rotating sentries that give two-toned warning calls, and hibernate in plugged winter dens for as long as eight months a year. The IUCN ranks the species as least concern, although it is considered unusually sensitive to climate change. Alaska marks 2 February as Marmot Day.