What is the State Endemic mammal of Washington?
Olympic Marmot is the official state endemic mammal of Washington. Olympic Marmot was entitled as the official Washington state endemic mammal in 2009. Marmota Olympus is the scientific name of Olympic Marmot. The Olympic marmot has a very restricted range, can only be found in the Olympic National Park, on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington State, USA.
Also, this species is found frequently all over the upper slopes of the Olympic Mountains and rocky mountain slopes and hillsides and in alpine meadows. The law entitling the Olympic Marmot as Washington’s official state endemic mammal is found in the Washington Statutes, Title 1, Chapter 1.20, Section 1.20.038.
State endemic mammal of Washington Facts—
- Common Name: Olympic Marmot
- Scientific Name: Marmota Olympus
- Color: The color of the Olympic Marmot usually brown with intermixed white, but turn to pelage color is dependent on season. On emerging from hibernation, the fur is yellow-brown in color. Pups are dark gray in color even as yearlings are grayish brown with some lighter patches of the pelt.
- Size: Head-body length: 46 – 53 cm. Tail length: 18 – 25 cm
- Weight: 3.1 – 11 kg
- Diet: A variety of grasses, flowers and green plants including sedges, lupines, mosses, lilies and heather blossoms are the favorite diet of Olympic marmot. They also it eats insects occasionally. The Olympic marmot hibernates in between the period from September through May and after the hibernation, roots make up a large part of its diet until new plants bloom.
- Reproduction: After the end of the hibernation for a period of a couple of weeks the Olympic marmot mates. The female gives birth to four to five babies about a month after mating.
- Lifespan: 2-6years
Washington’s state endemic mammal, Olympic Marmots are usually brown with intermixed white, but turn to pelage color is dependent on season. On emerging from hibernation, the fur is yellow-brown in color. Pups are dark gray in color even as yearlings are grayish brown with some lighter patches of the pelt. The Olympic marmot is a large, stocky rodent like other marmots with short legs, and as a dweller of underground burrows, it has influential forelimbs with big claws for excavating.
It has a stout body and long, bushy tail, the ample head of this housecat-sized rodent is relatively small. The Olympic marmot is a member of the squirrel family, which has large eyes, rounded ears, and big, famous teeth. State endemic mammal of Washington, Olympic Marmots is very social. They live in a family group, which made up of one male, two or three females, a litter of year-old marmots and the new one. Males mate with one female for one year and switch over to another female for the next year.
The Olympic marmot has a variety of typical calls and whistles like all other marmot species, those are being used to communicate with other colony members and alert them to the presence of predators. They have four basic calls, the flat, monotonous calls are most common, and they reserved the trilled call for the situations when going to great danger. Washington’s state endemic mammal, Olympic Marmots naturally live 2-6years if they are not exterminated by humans or causes related to humans.
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