Baby boom of 59 marmot pups helps endangered Vancouver Island species toward recovery

A tenacious Vancouver Island marmot's long-distance quest for love may help explain how the endangered animals are bouncing back from near extinction.

Adam Taylor, executive director of the Marmot Recovery Foundation in Nanaimo, B.C., said one marmot named Camas wandered for 35 kilometres over mountains and down valleys looking for a mate.

"There are not many marmots. It's a pretty small community," Taylor said. "So finding a partner can be a challenge.

"He's really kind of gone the whole nine yards to track somebody down."

Camas was released by the foundation last year, but Taylor said they lost track of him over the winter. When he reappeared last spring, he wandered from marmot colony to colony.

"We actually got a phone call from a farmer in a little town called Barrington to say, 'I've got a marmot in my backyard,"' Taylor said, confirming it was Camas.

"He is a survivor," Taylor said. "He has undertaken this incredible journey ... 35 kilometres up and down literal mountains, looking for the right partners."

The Vancouver Island marmot is one of Canada's most endangered species. With beaver-like bucked teeth, fluffy chocolate brown fur and tail, as well as white patches on their nose, forehead and chest, the rodents have five distinct whistle sounds they make, also known as trills — more than any other marmot species.

Only 4 pups born in 2022

In 2003, there were fewer than 30 members of the species remaining in the wild. But a baby boom this year of 59 pups has brought their population up to 306 animals, thanks to the recovery program and support in the wild.

Last year was a terrible year for the marmots, Taylor said, with only four pups born.

Marmots live at about 1,000 metres in elevation, and last winter there was a large snow pack, with little food available for the animals when they emerged from hibernation, he said.

The weather last spring was more favourable in their alpine habitats, with a more typical snow pack. That helped marmots find food after as they emerged from hibernation and began to breed, Taylor explained.

Thanks to the new pups, there's been a 50 per cent increase in the total population since the end of last year, when there were 204 marmots. Taylor called it a "huge jump."

Taylor said they've also been giving out biscuits made of pressed leaves, targeted toward females when they emerge, hungry, from hibernation.

"The goal is just to provide those females with a really quick boost of energy," he said. "So they start putting on body weight right away, and hopefully have more babies."

Founded in 1998, the foundation brought wild marmots into captivity for a breeding program. They have facilities on Mount Washington in central Vancouver Island, and breeding programs at the Calgary and Toronto zoos.

The program has released 630 marmots into the wild. Each animal is released with a transmitter, so researchers know they are still alive, and if they are hibernating.

Numerous factors behind population decline

Many factors contribute to species' population struggles, including habitat loss, climate change, and predators such as cougars and wolves.

The marmots live in mountain meadows, said Taylor. Researchers say that when a colony moves into a forestry cut block, the animals thrive until the trees begin to regrow, leaving them to search of another home.

He said aerial photos taken of the area in the 1950s and the 1970s indicate many historic marmot burrows are now overgrown with trees.

"As there's less snow energy, more young trees began to grow in the marmot colony," Taylor said, "and the colonies are essentially beginning to shrink."

Despite being decades into the population recovery operation, Taylor said there's still much work to do.

"We're kind of in a bit of a race," he said. "The race right now is how quickly we can recover the marmot population, versus how quickly climate change is impacting their habitat."

He said conservationists will probably always need to do some habitat restoration work with the endangered species.

"I think that that's simply a reality," Taylor said.

As for Camas, he said they've followed him to another colony — where he appears to be settling down with a few local marmots now.

"I hope he found somebody special," Taylor said. "We will see what the spring holds.

"We are still trying to improve our marmot matchmaking skills; we're kind of crossing our fingers and hoping that we have pups from him next year."