Help with animal ID

Ok, I shot this little critter at a local bird refuge. Looks a bit like my Marmots but smaller and with a more pronouced raised area on the bridge of the nose area. Oh and it was in a den in the ground about 10 yards off the water's edge. No rocks anywhere around which is where I normally find Marmots. I'm still thinking it's a marmot but I'm just not sure, anyone??







By comparision a definite Marmot:





This is an older Marmot shot but the best to illustrate my point. No bulge on top and a more pointed nose in my opinion.



It was a very good weekend end for me in terms of the small mammals. On top of both of the above animals I also got some really good shots of a female Ermine.

My GUESS is a younger Marmot.

Is the coloring of your local marmots variable? Because the one you're asking about has very differet coloration than the 'actual' ones you've posted and the proportions/overall head shape and ear placement, from what I can make of the photos, are also different.

Could it be an immature/juvenile animal?

Very interested in knowing if it's a different species, subspecies or race.

(Really nice photos, btw!)

It's size though is about what I see with the Marmot youngsters around June, not march. I also don't normally see the Yellow-Bellied Marmots sit back on their haunches like this animal. They are normally belly to the ground unless peaking over a rock or cleaning themselves.

Here's a juvenile Marmot of about the same body size.

Hey, look at the noses also. The marmots appear to have hair around the top part while this animal's nose is hairless.

Where is the park? This looks kinda close -- but not really a match. It's a photo of a common woodchuck like we have in the east? -- here's a link to the page and photo

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/victor_loewen/marmota.jpg/view.html

The other marmot species don't quite match either, unless there's a lot of racial variation.

Is there a mammalian taxonomist in the house??

This was taken in Northern Utah. No woodchucks out here although this native Virginia country boy is quite familier with groundhogs. This animal was about 1/3 the size of a normal fat groundhog. I emailed the refuge with some pics and hopefully one the staff can help. I think they even have a few biologist working there.

Prairie Dog ??? (Black-tailed}

Jim

Here's a link to a photo taken at a zoo exhibit that looks similar.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2915126090030272744ThzRzl

Marmot or no marmot...these are some really candid and cute pictures there.

NICE!

Did we ever find out what your mystery mammal is??

Sorry for the late response Cathy, still working through problems with the computer crash. Best I can determine is that it is a Marmot. I've been back a few more times and have seen it each time.

But to be honest this just does not fit. It's a small burrow with no dirt mound at all which is not typical. Plus it's in a flat open waterland area not hilly country like you normally find marmots in. I only see one hole and it's about 6" across which is small for a marmot. Still haven't got a good look at it's tail though and that may help some.

Thanks Jim, I am very interested in whatever your find out.

Who knows, maybe it's just a unique individual (the bump on the nose almost looks like. . .well, a bump on the nose due to an injury?) or perhaps it's an undescribed species (now THAT would be cool -- we could name it Marmota jamesdaki!)

Yeah the bump on the nose throws me. It also makes me think of a horse we had when I was growing up. She had a large csyst in one notstril that gave it a bulge not unlike what I see in the animal.

The bump on the nose tells me that it is some kind of ground squirrel. It almost looks like a Columbian Ground Squirrel.

To big and rounded to be a Columbian Ground Squirrel. I shoot plenty of these guys when I get north to Tony's neck of the woods.






I emailed some shots to a Natural History Museum and am just waiting to hear back from them.

Ok, the "mystery" is solved. It is indeed a Marmot. They seem to have invaded the area this year for some reason. I've now found at least 4 different dens and animals. Even the original one I questioned has changed a bit. The bulge on the head is gone and the bare nose now has fur on it like normally expected. Maybe what threw me off were injuries from a scrape or just normal "wear and tear" from it digging a burrow. I've confirmed this with the local natural history museum.

On a happy side note. I've not seen the foxes yet but I've found an active den with a whole lot of bird pieces around it. Hopefully I can get some pictures of them before the refuge personnel trap the foxes.