Marmot Controversy

Mrrrr Friends,

Given my spiritual kinship with marmots, I've been asked to weigh in on the Punxsutawney Phil controversy. You've read perhaps that PETA thinks it's time to retire Phil and replace him with a weather robot. Mmmreally.

They argue that even though Phil has it good, he isn't meant to live in captivity...he's a shy, wild creature that wants to be hibernating on schedule, not hanging out in a library to be rolled out once a year and manhandled for the media.  Groundhog Day traditionalists counter that Phil lives the life of a king and that life isn't that great in the wild for a marmot these days.

Should a marmot be a "pet"? I'm not sure any animal should be a pet. We're individuals, for goodness sake. "Pet" implies commodity and, somehow, disposability to my mind. Maybe it's just that I've seen what some people do to their pets...takes me back to my youth looking out for some fellow kittens left in a house in Wisconsin. We made it. I know most humans have deep ties to and responsible relationships with animals they call pets, but I've never been fond of the term. Word hockey aside, the point is that marmots are wild. They still have a role in our ecosystem, unlike Felis catus.

Can a marmot live in captivity with regular exposure to humans and be content? Likely, some can. Individual animals might be quite capable of adapting to such a lifestyle. And it's true, it looks like Phil is loved and well-cared for. He may be content.

But I gotta admit, every year, some humans whip out Phil, or one of his captive marmot cousins, and manhandle him a little as they parade around making their point about winter...it makes me shiver.

It seems to me that with all the cool camera and video equipment out there, some creative scientists should be able to scope out a wild marmot hole, plant a camera with a motion detector and, with minimal disruption, wait until the marmot makes a real prediction about the weather. Or maybe, you've got some marmots in a zoo somewhere - maybe even marmots that needed to be rehabilitated and were kept in captivity because they wouldn't survive in the wild - that you could set up a marmot-cam on?

Have you spent time watching a marmot? Here's a little clip from my friends at National Geographic who prove marmot-cams can work.

I'm sure you humans are about as good as predicting the weather by now as most marmots. I'm sure there are marmots out there smarter than most of you, when it comes to weather, but, in any given year, the marmot currently known as Phil might not be that weather-savvy.

A robot is not a marmot, PETA. Marmots are furry, very good at paw hockey,  and irreplaceable. But your hearts and minds are in the right place on this one.

Now, if any of these folks had any sense, they'd ask me to predict winter based on my coat depth and shed time. That's what I call science.

Wandering Indiana

Mrrrr,

Hello, friends! It has taken me a few days to catch up on sleep and food after that two-day, six-state, cross-country marathon. I wanted to share with you some scattered notes from my journey.

Day 1

Last time I traveled to New York, I was in the back seat of the car. I was so overwhelmed by Lake Michigan and Chicago that I fell asleep and missed all of Indiana.

This trip, my plan was to catch some sleep ahead of time so as to test a hypothesis. If Indiana is “the Crossroads of America,” as the state license plate proclaims, is it true that everyone just drives through – as one of my people maintains – or, do folks really live there?
I have concluded that people do live in Indiana, and it is a fairly cool state. I saw farms, homes, schools, hospitals, and more. My person would not stop for photo ops so I was forced to snap these while standing on her lap at 75mph.



The people of Indiana are on the cutting edge of some cool wildlife stuff. This blurry photo shows a radar detection system along the Indiana Toll Road. (And you thought it was an art shot.) If an animal comes within a few yards of the highway (it is set up for deer but I’m thinking a raccoon or a marmot might also set it off?), lights begin to flash and signs (the yellow blurry thing) attached to them tell drivers to slow down, as an animal may be on the road. Indiana State has been testing this system with the support of the Humane Society of the United States and others. It is going so well, they are expanding the system.

So, as darkness fell and we progressed eastward toward Ohio, the moon rose and I tucked into a satisfied snooze knowing my person’s perverse hyperbole (a relic dating back to her home state and the Hoosier/Show Me wars) about this lovely state had been put aside for good.

Snowcat?

Mrrrr,

Wisconsin winters can be tough on a cat. Over time a subset of us have evolved dense fur, a sturdy build, and some of the other physiological features that allow us to enjoy a good, deep snow. You also need to love the challenge of it: falling into snow pits, getting stuck in human leg holes, getting cold paws. I can't think of a better way to start a snowy winter day than by hanging on the back door caterwauling and threatening to run all four sets of nails down that length of lovely oak if I don't get to go out.

"Out" in our house means going out with one of our humans. We walk with them, generally stay within yelling distance, and usually respond to their voices...unless they panic, then we hide and watch them sweat. Kelley and I go snow-walking together. This year we had a good 2 to 3 feet of snow in south-central Wisconsin where we currently live.

My primary purpose in going outside is to explore my territory and meet, through smell, the other critters who share it. As you can see here my current backyard is great, especially in the snow when Kelley and I can see the tracks of the many animals that forage in the winter. This winter I've been obsessed by Black Cat and Marmota monax.

Black Cat seems to be what we cats call a wanderer. Humans would call her homeless. She often uses our garage to sleep at night, but the snow has revealed how efficiently she uses our entire yard to hunt for small rodents and other tasty treats.

Marmot is another matter all together. Marmot - what folks in these parts call a Groundhog, Woodchuck, or Whistle Pig - is actually a big rodent about the size of me, or larger. Our human neighbor and my people have known about her for some time as she has been known to live under our garage in a grand hole/tunnel that Kelley will not let me enter. Anyway, we were surprised to find Marmot tracks leading across the snow, down the driveway, and into the garage three days (around 28 Febrary on the human calendar) after the big snow. It was a sign of spring amidst the glories of a snowy cold winter.

Sure enough, days after seeing Marmots tracks, box elder bugs started migrating from the house basement upstairs to head outdoors, then we saw a Turkey Vulture soaring and heard Sandhill Cranes. Now you can't go outside without hearing the owlish cooing of Mourning Doves. Spring is here!

P.S. You too can become a marmoteer like Kelley and me. Go to the site in my links bar to check out the Marmot Burrow website, written by a human UCLA scientist, and learn about all 14 species of my furry colleagues.