GLENDALE, Arizona (KDVR) – A Colorado groundhog made the 600-mile trip from Crested Butte to the Phoenix subway area. The Arizona Game and Fish Department said a resident of Glendale, Arizona, “discovered an animal she had never seen before” and contacted her back in June. The local resident said the creature ran around a parking lot and jumped into vehicles. It turned out to be a yellow-bellied marmot named “Fork”. Fork, a female, had an ear tag and was part of a 60-year marmot study conducted by the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. “It’s not uncommon for marmots to hitchhike and find themselves in Crested Butte or Gunnison,” said Dan Blumstein, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA who leads the marmot study at RMBL. “The idea that a marmot could get under a car and somehow travel 10 hours to the Phoenix area is just extraordinary.” Marmots are adapted to cold climates so they may not have survived the Phoenix Valley’s extreme summer heat, said Arizona Wildlife Officials. Be careful in open space and when viewing wildlife. Colorado researchers wanted to get them back too, as they said females are important to their long-term study. Female marmots are more social and are therefore less likely to break away from their related marmots. Wildlife officials from Arizona captured her and brought her back to Colorado. Everyone involved called the operation a success. She was released and reunited with her brother “Spoon”. “She’s back with her brothers. It will be really interesting to see if she sticks with it or if she disperses, and it will be interesting to see if she grows up and acts as an aunt for her many cousins and siblings, “said Blumstein. Watch the Arizona Game and Fish Department Full Video: Arizona Game and Fish Department Close Modal
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