Biologie, comportement et reproduction de la marmotte à tête noire (Marmota camtschatica Pall.) en captivité. Biology, behavior and breeding of black-capped marmots (Marmota camtschatica Pall.) in captivity.

Résumé

The study of the settlements of black-capped marmots in Kamchatka carried out in 1980-1993 has shown that their home ranges include two necessary elements (two subranges): alpine meadows and massive accumulations of large boulders and screes. The first subrange provides marmots with high-quality food till mid-September, practically, right up to the onset of hibernation (late September). Each family possessed 1 to 2 winter burrows, 5 to 7 summer burrows and 15 to 20 temporary ones. The overall length of a branched net of passages of a winter burrow excavated by us was 54 m, the depth of their location being 0.7 to 1m. The dimensions of the nest chamber located approximately in the geometric center of the burrow were 51 x 51 x 74 cm. Refuge burrows have usually one passageway 1.5 to 2 m in length. A small marmot breeding farm was organized in 1991 at the base "Vershinskaya". Initially there were formed 20 pairs of marmots captured by us in the Sredinny ridge, 13 of them being puberal. In 1992 four and in 1993 three of them had litters. The number of pups in a litter was 2 to 8.