The pups join six other litters born this year at their partner facilities at the Calgary zoo, Toronto zoo and Mountain View Farms in Langley. It’s still too early to know exactly how many pups were born, some of them are still hiding in their nest boxes, but they hope to top 17.
These 17 pups represent a 27% increase in the captive population increasing the total number of Vancouver Island marmots to just over 100 animals. An amazing success, but at still so few animals the Vancouver Island Marmot remains Canada’s most endangered mammal and one of the rarest in North America. If you look carefully at the alpine bowls at the top of the mountain you may see one eating grasses and wild flowers or sunning on a rock.
The colony at Mount Washington is the last of the northern colonies and the largest surviving natural colony in the wild representing almost half of the total wild population who now number less than 30 animals.