Portrait of two Yellow-bellied Marmot pups – Nikon D500, f11, 1/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Today I am sharing two portraits of recently photographed Yellow-bellied Marmot pups that I found near their den in desert habitat in northern Utah. These sibling marmots kept poking their heads above the rocks and I couldn’t resist photographing them. I only saw two pups at this burrow. There may have been more pups inside of the burrow.
Young Yellow-bellied Marmots stick fairly close to their dens for the first few weeks that they are above ground. Later they will explore the areas around their burrows.
The adult female at this den may be suffering from mange. She had large areas of missing fur. I hope these marmot pups don’t get sick with it too.
Young Yellow-bellied Marmot pups at their den – Nikon D500, f11, 1/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
If these young marmot pups stay healthy they can live to be about 15 years of age and begin to breed at two years old.
I love watching young marmot pups almost as much as I enjoy photographing them. They are more playful and active than the adults seem to be.
Yellow-bellied Marmots are large ground squirrels that live in Canada and western United States that hibernate for a large part of the year.
I wish that these two marmot pups had been a little more active while I photographed them. They seemed to be curious about the vehicle and the shutter sounds of the cameras. They didn’t play, chase or nuzzle each other. Still, any day that I have a marmot pup in my viewfinder is a good day.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Yellow-bellied Marmot photos plus facts and information about this species.
Very cool. I love the contrast between light and dark and the detail in the Pups is wonderful. Thanks Mia.
very adorable!
Definitely a very good day to see these charmers. Thank you.
Absolutely adorable)
Great shots, love em!!