Alaska records for the hoary marmot cluster in high country across the state, with the densest reports from Denali National Park and Preserve and Kenai Fjords National Park, plus the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, and the Copper River delta. That spread tracks what the marmot actually needs: open alpine meadow to graze and a talus slope or rockpile close by to burrow into.
One isolated coastal population, distinctive enough to carry its own name, dens on Montague Island in Prince William Sound within sight of the tide. Elsewhere, colonies post sentries on boulders that let out a sharp whistle when a brown bear or other threat gets close, the alarm call that earned marmots the old nickname of whistle-pigs.
Records run heavily from June through August, when marmots graze hard on meadow plants to build fat reserves for hibernation. The rest of the year they’re underground, which is why sightings drop to almost nothing outside those few summer months.
In parts of the Brooks Range, hoary marmots can get confused with the more range-restricted Alaska marmot, but hoary marmots range far more widely across the state’s coastal and interior mountains.
Full species profile
