The "Ground Hog" woodchucker: Marmot

It's currently 6:30am (no joke!) as I write this, so I'm not sure why my brain isn't dead and my body limp, but I'm relatively awake! It was a night full of long talks, remembering, smiling, and bonding. I crave these nights...so while my mind is still alive, I decided I would do a little more remembering through animals.

I hiked California Yosemite National Park's "Half Dome" about a week and a half ago and it was AMAZING!! For someone who never went to the gym, I think I did pretty well for a round trip of 11 hours and 9 minutes. The top of the dome is AMAZING (I suppose I will be using this word a lot in this one). It's height and stature is awesome and its views are breathtaking while still completely scaring me to my core.

Nature never ceases to put me in my rightful place and reminds me that although I concurred the mountain, I only did it because the mountain allowed me to. It was entirely because of the AMAZING guidance I received and the fact that nature chose to grace me with its grandeur, so thank you. For everything.

Anyway...back to the animal part. At the top of the dome I saw a "marmot" and honestly I didn't even know what it was! It's the look of a beaver meets giant-fatty-mutant-squirrel. And actually GROUND HOG day was named after a marmot!
They're a type of rodent that's closely related to both ground squirrels and prairie dogs and found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. If you've ever heard "how much could a woodchuck chuck wood if a wood chuck could chuck wood" (phew, that was a mouthful!)---they're talking about a marmot!!
There are actually about 14 different species of marmots, and none of them really "chuck" wood, but it helps with rhymes. The one in Canada is endangered with fewer than 100 left, while some places in the alps hunt them for food and sport. They hibernate in the winter but wake up once a week or so then go back to its deep sleep. (weird!) They can be social and solitary...depending on where you look. And while they're on the prey list for many carnivores, marmots are generally vegetarian.

This is the one I saw @ Half Dome!! very cute and chubby and "friendly."



Although they're chubby and cute, and I saw people feeding it cranberries, it's important to remember that feeding wildlife only diminishes their chances of surviving and fending for themselves in the wild, so don't do it!