{"id":913,"date":"2021-02-02T08:38:28","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T16:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craigromano.com\/blog\/?p=913"},"modified":"2021-02-03T20:35:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T04:35:46","slug":"marmots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913","title":{"rendered":"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

An Olympic marmot, Washington’s official endemic mammal!<\/p><\/div>\r\n

Happy Groundhog Day! Today marks the 135th Anniversary of this Holiday being celebrated in the United States. \u00a0The tradition of Groundhog Day in America started with Pennsylvania Germans. The custom of the groundhog predicting weather goes back to ancient Europe where a badger was actually used for the prediction. There are very few badgers in Pennsylvania\u2014but plenty of woodchucks (groundhogs)\u2014close enough! \u00a0Here are Five Things you probably don\u2019t know about groundhogs\u2014for many of us hikers\u2014our favorite rodent.<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. Groundhogs are marmots; rodents belonging to the genus Marmota. There are 15 species worldwide living in mountainous, wooded, and prairie steppe environments throughout North America, mountainous and steppe regions of Europe and in the Himalayas and Siberia of Asia.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
      \r\n
    1. There are six species of marmots in North America. The woodchuck is the most widely distributed; living throughout Eastern and Central US and Canada. Washington is home to three species: yellow-bellied, hoary, and Olympic (endemic to the Olympic Mountains). The Vancouver Island Marmot is found only on BC\u2019s Vancouver Island. It is a species-at-risk <\/a>in danger of extinction. The Alaska Marmot lives only in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
        \r\n
      1. Alaskans celebrate Marmot Day on Feb 2. The holiday was established in 2009 (replacing Groundhog Day) upon Governor Sarah Palin\u2019s signature.<\/a> The holiday is meant to celebrate Alaska\u2019s marmots and Alaskan culture.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
          \r\n
        1. In 2009, the same year Alaska declared its marmot independence; Washington declared the Olympic Marmot its official state endemic mammal<\/a>. Hurricane Ridge is one of the best places to see this species. Coyotes are the Olympic Marmot\u2019s main predator.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
            \r\n
          1. The Vancouver Island Marmot is making a slow recovery (thanks to captive breeding)<\/a> after near extinction. One of the official mascots of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in British Columbia was a marmot named Mukmuk. Mukmuk\u2019s name is derived from the Chinook jargon word Muckamuck-which means to eat (which marmots do frequently). Washington has a Muckamuck Mountain (in the Tiffany Highlands) home to a few mukmuks!\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

            Happy Groundhog Day\u00a0everyone\u00a0whether\u00a0winter persists or subsides!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

            \r\n
            \"\"<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

            Looking for a great hike to spot a marmot or two? Consult one of my excellent hiking guidebooks<\/a> to help you locate them!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

            \r\n
            \"\"<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Happy Groundhog Day! Today marks the 135th Anniversary of this Holiday being celebrated in the United States. \u00a0The tradition of Groundhog Day in America started with Pennsylvania Germans. The custom of the groundhog predicting weather goes back to ancient Europe where a badger was actually used for the prediction. There are very few badgers in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,9,16,39],"tags":[125,141,161,174,193,309],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-100-classic-hikes-washington","category-blog","category-conservation-take-action","category-day-hiking-olympic-penisula","category-wildlife","tag-groundhog-day","tag-holidays","tag-marmots","tag-mukmuk","tag-olympic-endemics","tag-woodchucks"],"yoast_head":"\nFive Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots » Craig Romano<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots » Craig Romano\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Happy Groundhog Day! Today marks the 135th Anniversary of this Holiday being celebrated in the United States. \u00a0The tradition of Groundhog Day in America started with Pennsylvania Germans. The custom of the groundhog predicting weather goes back to ancient Europe where a badger was actually used for the prediction. There are very few badgers in…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Craig Romano\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-02T16:38:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-04T04:35:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"609\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Administrator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec\"},\"headline\":\"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-02T16:38:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-04T04:35:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913\"},\"wordCount\":382,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Groundhog Day\",\"holidays\",\"Marmots\",\"Mukmuk\",\"Olympic endemics\",\"woodchucks\"],\"articleSection\":[\"100 Classic Hikes Washington\",\"Blog\",\"Conservation-Take Action\",\"Day Hiking Olympic Penisula\",\"wildlife\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913\",\"name\":\"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots » Craig Romano\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-02T16:38:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-04T04:35:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg\",\"width\":609,\"height\":712},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?p=913#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Craig Romano\",\"description\":\"Guidebook Author and Outdoors Writer and Photographer\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec\"},\"alternateName\":\"Author Website\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec\",\"name\":\"Administrator\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg\",\"width\":660,\"height\":635,\"caption\":\"Administrator\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/craigromano.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots » Craig Romano","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots » Craig Romano","og_description":"Happy Groundhog Day! Today marks the 135th Anniversary of this Holiday being celebrated in the United States. \u00a0The tradition of Groundhog Day in America started with Pennsylvania Germans. The custom of the groundhog predicting weather goes back to ancient Europe where a badger was actually used for the prediction. There are very few badgers in…","og_url":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913","og_site_name":"Craig Romano","article_published_time":"2021-02-02T16:38:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-04T04:35:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":609,"height":712,"url":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Administrator","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Administrator","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913"},"author":{"name":"Administrator","@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec"},"headline":"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots","datePublished":"2021-02-02T16:38:28+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-04T04:35:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913"},"wordCount":382,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg","keywords":["Groundhog Day","holidays","Marmots","Mukmuk","Olympic endemics","woodchucks"],"articleSection":["100 Classic Hikes Washington","Blog","Conservation-Take Action","Day Hiking Olympic Penisula","wildlife"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913","url":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913","name":"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots » Craig Romano","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-02-02T16:38:28+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-04T04:35:46+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Groundhog-Day-1.jpg","width":609,"height":712},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?p=913#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five Things You Didn\u2019t Know About Marmots"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/","name":"Craig Romano","description":"Guidebook Author and Outdoors Writer and Photographer","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec"},"alternateName":"Author Website","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0065fc182ce8cca56eaa6c754b60ccec","name":"Administrator","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg","url":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg","width":660,"height":635,"caption":"Administrator"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/216470952_10158597109772476_1012983523646826847_n.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=913"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2290,"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions\/2290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigromano.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}