Part 3

GOLDEN-MANTLED MARMOT Marmota flaviventris nosophora

The Golden-mantled Marmot is one of the familiar animals of Yellowstone. Known to many people as a woodchuck or groundhog, the Yellowstone representatives never worry about whether they will see their shadow on the proverbial groundhog day. They remain snug in their beds for they know that they don’t want to come out for another six weeks or more anyhow.

In fact, they spend over half of their life sleeping, for they hibernate from about the first of September until early April. The summer months are then spent in accumulating a layer of fat to carry them through the next long sleep.

Marmots are found throughout the park at all altitudes wherever suitable rocky slopes can be found. They are commonly seen from the highway on rock piles or near culverts. Such areas provide the most suitable protection since they are slow and fat and easily caught if found too far away from a safe retreat. Easily tamed, they soon adjust themselves to the presence of numerous visitors and even congregate in the vicinity of lodges and cabin areas where shelter under buildings is handy and scraps of food are plentiful.

The marmot well deserves its early name of “Whistler” for his piercing warning whistle is commonly heard whenever anything startles him. And immediately upon hearing it every other marmot in the vicinity pops his head up for a quick look, then starts for home. Their favorite retreat is on a rock or knoll or log, near the home entrance, where a good view of the surrounding area can be had. Bears, badgers, coyotes, lynxes and some of the larger hawks are their principal enemies.

Their food consists of vegetation of various kinds, clover, grass, seeds, and foliage of native plants as well as cultivated crops when such are within their feeding range. In some instances marmots have proved quite destructive to gardens and other crops.

The marmot’s home is either in a burrow dug in open ground or under boulders or in cavities under rockslides. In this den, the young, numbering from four to six, are born in May. The adults usually hibernate earlier in the season than the young as it takes the latter a little longer to get the necessary accumulation of fat to sustain them over the winter.

General description: A large rodent with a heavy-set body and short tail. Head broad and short, ears low and rounded, fur long and coarse. The color is ochraceous above and reddish below with golden-buff mantle on the anterior back. The males are about 24 inches in length, maximum weight about 10 pounds. Females a little smaller.

Where found: Throughout the park at all elevations except in heavy-timbered areas. They are out at any time during daylight hours.

MONTANA MANTLED GROUND SQUIRREL Citellus lateralis cinerascens

This Ground Squirrel is frequently mistaken for a chipmunk although quite a bit larger in size. This mistaken identity is chiefly due to the stripes on the side of the back. It must be remembered, however, that the real chipmunk has stripes on the face also which this ground squirrel does not have. They do look and behave much like big chipmunks, especially resembling the chipmunk of the eastern states.

The Mantled Ground Squirrel seldom climbs much above the ground and lives in burrows or crevices in the rocks or under logs. They prefer grassy, open, forested areas rather than open meadows.

These little animals are quite easily tamed and soon learn to hang around camps and parking areas where they wait to be fed. They are equipped with cheek pouches which they fill until they appear to have an extra bad case of the mumps.

They hibernate in the late summer or early autumn and emerge again the following April. A supply of food is stored during the summer season; however, the heavy layer of fat acquired is the nourishment for the winter sleep.

Only one litter of from four to seven young is born each season, usually during May.

Their food consists of seeds, grain, buds, green vegetation, insects and their larvae, and occasionally young birds, eggs and mice. Chief enemies are hawks and the various small carnivores.

General description: A small to medium sized ground-dwelling squirrel, larger and more robust than chipmunks but not as heavily built as the Uinta Ground Squirrel. Tail about half as long as the head and body, flat and bushy. Color of upper parts dark chestnut red mantle bordering which are light-gray stripes with black on either side of the light stripe; under parts yellow to yellowish-white. Upper parts grayer in winter. No stripes on side of head. Length about 11 inches. Sexes alike.

Where found: Generally distributed over the park and is best seen around camps and woodland margins. Active in daytime only.

UINTA GROUND SQUIRREL Citellus armatus

This Ground Squirrel, commonly called Picket-pin, is abundant throughout most of the open, grassy valleys of the park. It comes into lawns and frequently lives under nearby buildings.

The picket-pin is extremely curious and the sight of any strange object or movement immediately has him standing rigidly on tip-toe to examine whatever attracted his attention. This position he assumes does so resemble the appearance of a pin to which some horse was previously tethered that the reason for the origin of his name can readily be seen.

These little animals spend over half of their lives sleeping in their snug underground nests. They spend the summer accumulating a heavy layer of fat and then go into hibernation late in August to emerge the following April.

The young, from five to fourteen in number, are born in May or June. Only one litter a year is born; however, this species is so numerous and prolific that its many enemies can hardly keep it in check.

Most common enemies are badgers, coyotes, bears, foxes, weasels, hawks and most small carnivores. These all depend upon the picket-pin for at least part if not considerable of their diet during the summer and they frequently are dug out after they are in hibernation. This control is beneficial since the picket-pin is a host to the wood tick carrying spotted fever.

The food of the ground squirrel is chiefly seeds, nuts, grain, green vegetation, roots, insects and larvae with occasionally young birds, mammals and eggs. It stores grain and seeds in underground storerooms for emergency use the following spring as it does not eat during the winter hibernation.

General description: A terrestrial, burrowing squirrel with short tail and small ears, body robust with short limbs. Tail about one-quarter the total length, flat and moderately bushy. Color mixed gray and black with a wash of dark brown on the back; underparts gray washed buffy. Sexes alike. Total length about 11 inches.

Where found: Open, grassy areas throughout the valleys of the park. Active in daytime only.

GATES OPEN 7:00 A.M. TO 11:00 P.M. DURING MAIN SEASON MAXIMUM SPEED 45 MILES TRUCKS AND TRAILERS 30 MILES OBSERVE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS WHEN VISITING HOT WATER AREAS. STAY ON MAIN PATHS! ABIDE BY ALL RULES. PROTECT THE GEYSER AND HOT SPRING FORMATIONS! FEEDING OR MOLESTING BEARS IS DANGEROUS BE CAREFUL WITH FIRE IN THE WOODS HELP US PRESERVE YOUR PARK

CAMPING is permitted throughout Yellowstone National Park on specially designated camp sites easily recognized by signs. Leave clean grounds for the next camper.

CHIPMUNK Eutamias sp.

One of the most active and interesting of the smaller animals of the park. This genus is represented in the park by three species.

Chipmunks are chiefly terrestrial in habit although they can and do frequently climb into low trees and bushes. The different species of Western Chipmunks vary greatly in their preferred habitat from sagebrush flats to heavily wooded areas. Each type of environment has its distinct type of chipmunk.

The color patterns of the chipmunks vary, each type having its own distinctive pattern; however, the group as a whole is distinguished from other squirrels by the stripes on both body and face. The smaller ground squirrels may have some stripes on the body but do not have striped faces.

Chipmunks are universal favorites with visitors. Lively, interesting, and full of curiosity, they are quite easily tamed and soon learn to frequent the picnic areas and campgrounds. Here they take their toll of food bits from each group of people, either eating it on the spot or carrying it away to store for future use.

Their food consists mainly of seeds, berries, nuts, buds, some insects and any food scraps they may chance to find around camps. Their winter stores are located close to their nest, in underground cavities.

The chipmunks are not active outside during the stormy periods of winter but since they do not become fat in the fall and use some of their food stores during the winter it is not thought that they go into a complete period of hibernation like some of the other animals. Exactly what they do and how they live in Yellowstone during the winter, however, remains yet to be determined.

Their nest is made underground as they burrow into the earth at the foot of a stump, log or rock. In this nest the litter of four to six young are born in the spring. It is not likely that they have more than one litter a year here in the north.

The following forms of Chipmunks are found in Yellowstone Park:

Buff-bellied Chipmunk—Eutamias amoenus luteiventris

This is the abundant little striped chipmunk seen throughout most of the park along the roads and trails and around camp sites. Upper parts with five dark and four light longitudinal stripes from shoulder to base of tail. Median stripe from crown to root of tail. Whitish stripes bordered by dark, above and below eye. Underparts buffy; color rich; 8½ inches over-all length.

Uinta Chipmunk—Eutamias umbrinus

Generally scattered over the park but not as common as the above. Larger in size, 10 inches over-all length; under parts whitish and stripes not as conspicuous as in the Buff-bellied.

Wasatch Chipmunk—Eutamias minimus consobrinus

These little chipmunks were reported by Bailey to be found near Yellowstone Lake and near the eastern and southern boundaries of the park in high, open valleys. They are hard to distinguish from the buff-bellied chipmunk, as their white belly is somewhat concealed. They are slightly smaller in size. A gray form of this species has been reported from Swan Lake Flat but it is probably rare.

PINE SQUIRREL Wind River Mountains Red Squirrel, or Chickaree Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ventorum

These little animals are abundant throughout the forested sections of the park. Lively and noisy, they immediately give voice to a tirade of scolding and chattering at the approach of an outsider to their domain.

Friendly by nature they become quite tame wherever the park visitors are found, especially such areas as provide an opportunity to pick up chance bits of food. Alert and inquisitive they pry into anything that attracts their attention.

This squirrel has been frequently accused of destroying the nests of its bird neighbors and eating the eggs and young. This is true to some extent, especially among certain individuals. However, some of this damage is compensated by their unintentional benefit in assisting in reforestation. Cones and seeds that are buried for winter use are frequently overlooked and some of these later germinate and grow.

Pine squirrels do not hibernate during the winter and are active at all times except during periods of storms. They build warm nests either in hollow trees, woodpecker holes, or balls of leaves and fibers firmly anchored among the branches of a tree. They industriously collect large stores of cones for the winter food supply. These are either stored in hollows or more often buried in storage pits in the ground. After the ground is covered with its winter blanket of snow the squirrels make numerous tunnels under the snow which gives them access to the storage places and act as a protected place where they can scamper about.

The young are usually born in May or June, and number four or five to the litter with seldom more than one litter a year. Young squirrels are blind, naked and helpless for several weeks after birth.

A pine squirrel’s diet consists of nuts, seeds, berries, inner aspen bark, mushrooms, and some animal food such as birds’ eggs and fledglings.

Its enemies are hawks, owls, pine martens and weasels, and occasionally the larger carnivores.

General description: A small arboreal squirrel with flat, bushy tail; fairly long ears and fairly long pelage. Dark olivaceous with white underparts in summer, while in winter it is rusty-red above, sides olive-gray and underparts gray. Sexes alike. Total length about 13½ inches, tail over ⅓ of the length.

Where found: Abundant in all forested areas. Active during the daytime only.

Beaver Castor canadensis missouriensis

The quest for the fur of this little wilderness engineer did more to bring about the exploration of the west than any other one factor. The first daring explorers were continually pushing ever forward into the unknown regions searching for the wealth of furs and establishing the fur trade with the Indians. Thus, the first white man known to have entered the region later known as Yellowstone Park was John Colter, the representative of a fur trader.

These activities greatly depleted the beaver populations but under protection in recent years they have staged a satisfactory recovery in many parts of their former range.

The dams constructed by this animal are well known. Made of sticks, logs and mud, they are a remarkable accomplishment. The dam is for the purpose of impounding a pond of water in which to construct the beaver lodge or house. This also is made of sticks and mud with a room in the middle, above water level, reached by several underwater passages. The pond must be of sufficient depth to provide plenty of water below the level of the winter ice.

Sometimes when suitable ponds or still water are available the beaver digs a sloping tunnel into the bank of a stream, with a room at the end and above the high water level.

The beaver is a gnawing animal equipped with strong, sharp, chisel-like teeth which it uses to cut down and trim the trees for construction material for the house and dam as well as for food. Expert at cutting down the trees but not as expert, as stories say, in dropping the tree in a desired spot. This is not premeditated. The tree falls where it may and has been known to fall on the little sawyer when he failed to move away fast enough. The tree, after being cut, is trimmed into suitable sections and skidded to the pond and floated to the desired location. The trees and shrubs preferred and mainly cut are willow and aspen.

The beaver’s winter diet consists of bark from the tree branches that it stores up by sticking them into the mud at the bottom of the pond. In the summer the bark diet is supplemented by the addition of roots and green vegetation.

The four to six young are born in the house or the bank den in May or June where they remain until able to make the underwater swim to the outside where they soon assist their parents in the work of the colony.

The beaver is equipped with a large flat paddle-like tail. However, contrary to stories, he does not use it as a trowel or as a means of transporting mud. It is an excellent rudder and also a prop or brace for the owner while he stands up to cut down a tree. The resounding slap of the tail upon the surface of the pond is an excellent warning signal that immediately puts the colony on guard.

General description: Largest of the North American rodents, stocky, with webbed hind feet and broad, flat, scaly tail, ears short, fur thick, rich dark brown. Total length 43 inches; weight from 30 pounds to a maximum of 68 pounds. Tail 4 or 5 inches wide and 12 to 16 inches long.

Where found: Along almost every stream in Yellowstone. They might be seen in the beaver ponds in Willow Park, or along Pelican Creek; or at the beaver ponds and Floating Island Lake between Mammoth and Tower Fall. Longest dam in the park approximately 1000 feet in length is at Beaver Lake opposite Obsidian Cliff. The best time to see beaver is in the evening. Beaver change their locations frequently and it is difficult to predict, from season to season, where they can best be seen.

OTTER Lutra canadensis

This large member of the weasel family can outswim some fish. His lithe shape and short powerful legs with broad webbed feet make him an expert and his graceful maneuvers in the water are very interesting to see.

The principal item of the Otter’s diet is fish which are supplemented by frogs or crayfish and such young ducks, muskrats or other small mammals or birds as they may have occasion to catch. Their habitat is therefore near suitable streams, lakes or ponds. They have been known, on some occasions, however, to undertake fairly long overland journeys between streams.

The otter is a rather friendly fellow, fairly easily tamed and observed. They usually travel in pairs or family groups. Otters are playful and are in the habit of making slides down steep clay-banks or snowdrifts where they seem to have great sport coasting down on the chest and belly, ending up in the water with a loud splash. This they do over and over like a group of small children.

The den is located near the water, either as a burrow in a bank or under protecting tree roots or rocks. Here the one to three or four young are born in late April, there being only one family a year.

Otters are strong and capable fighters, a match for a dog on land and more than a match for one in the water. They have no particular enemies except man. The rich brown fur has brought a high price on the fur market and trapping operations have resulted in the animal becoming rare outside of such protected areas as Yellowstone. The rather short dense pelt is considered to be one of the most durable of furs and it, together with the layer of fat underlying the skin, make the otter impervious to the icy water in which he spends much of his time.

General description: A long, lithe-bodied animal with webbed feet and a long, tapering, muscular tail. Size large, head broad and flat, legs short. Color of upperparts a uniform, dark, rich, glossy-brown; underparts lighter with a grayish tinge. Total length 40-45 inches, tail 12½ to 15 inches; and weight 18 to 25 pounds.

Terms: Sexes—Male and Female; young—pups or kittens.

Where found: They are active all of the year and are found on many streams and lakes throughout the park. Best seen near the outlet of Lewis Lake and near the boat docks at Lake and West Thumb. Active at all hours.

WESTERN MINK Mustela vison energumenos

The mink is a large weasel of slightly heavier build and semi-aquatic in habit. Found widely distributed in forests or on plains but always along watercourses where it establishes its den. This may be a burrow in the bank, under logs or rocks and similar places.

They are strong and graceful swimmers and are fully capable of catching trout and other fish which form a part of their diet, as well as frogs and crayfish. They also hunt on shore for muskrats, mice, rabbits, snakes, birds and similar forms of small animal life. The mink is sometimes of bloodthirsty temperament, killing for the pleasure, but is not ordinarily considered quite as much inclined this way as the smaller weasels.

The odor of the musk carried by the mink as well as the other weasels is strong and very offensive. This is released in moments of excitement.

The mink has but one litter of young a year, numbering five or six in the average litter, which are born in April or May.

General description: A slender weasel-like animal nearly as large as a house cat. Ears small, neck long, tail moderately bushy. The fur is soft and dense, protected by long guard hairs, rich, glossy dark sooty brown in color with a white area under the chin. Total length 24 inches, tail 8 inches; weight up to 2 pounds, the females somewhat smaller.

Where found: Along some of the streams and ponds of the park but not very common and seldom seen.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PINE MARTEN Martes caurina origenes

This little animal is close kin to the famous Russian Sable and has a valuable pelt or rich, dense fur. Expert climbers, they hunt through the woods and capture a good portion of their menu from the tree tops. Largely carnivorous the marten lives on small mammals and birds. Its main foods in Yellowstone are squirrels, chipmunks, mice, rabbits, grouse, and also some nuts, berries, fruits, insects or honey.

Fearless and pugnacious they frequently quarrel among themselves and do not hesitate to snarl or spit at man. One time a ranger was standing in front of a patrol cabin when a marten came bounding toward him spitting and snarling at every jump. To see what he would do the ranger made for the cabin door and the marten came right after him even to the cabin door. It was decided that they would be pretty tough to live with if they suddenly became as big as bears with an increase in disposition accordingly. A marten family quarrel sounds like a good cross section of an alley-cat serenade. Being extremely active they are able to elude most would-be enemies except possibly the Great Horned Owl.

The marten nest is usually in a hollow tree or rarely in a burrow, where the young, averaging 3 or 4 to a litter, are born late in April. It is said that the young are blind for about the four weeks after birth.

General description: A small animal, of weasel-like form, a little smaller and more slender than a house cat; head rather small with ears broad and rounded, tail bushy and cylindrical, about half as long as the head and body. Fur soft, rich yellowish brown; legs, feet and tail dark brown; buffy patches on throat and chest. Total length 25 to 28 inches, weight 1½ to 4 pounds. Males largest.

Where found: Fairly common throughout wooded sections of the park but are shy and seldom seen, especially near habitations except isolated cabins where they sometimes become rather tame.

PORCUPINE Erethizon epixanthum

The Yellow-haired Porcupine of Yellowstone occurs all over the park. Being an unsociable sort of fellow he is usually found alone, except during the mating season or when the young are yet with their mother. He is a common animal but seldom seen.

He is a heavy set, slow, clumsy animal with short legs and a waddling walk. Very stupid and short-sighted with a habit of complaining audibly to himself as he goes along. Since the porcupine is well protected by a back full of loosely fastened quills, he is very unpopular with the other animals, especially those that might have an idea of making a meal of him.

The quills are his only battle equipment but are sufficient protection against most animals. Each individual quill is equipped with sharp barbs at the tip which easily penetrate flesh, gradually working their way deeper and are very hard to extract. Porky, however, does not have the power to throw his quills, in spite of stories to the contrary. When attacked he bristles up and looks like an animated pincushion and a slap from his quill-loaded tail is sufficient to fill the face and mouth of his would be attacker with a painful collection of quills which he will long remember.