The Vancouver Island marmot is one of only five endemic (only found in Canada) mammals in the country, and one of Canada’s most endangered mammals. This highly social alpine species plays an important role in maintaining healthy mountain ecosystems and only found on Vancouver Island.
The Vancouver Island marmot is listed as Endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act and Critically Endangered globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In response to the decline of the population, conservation breeding start in the mid-90’s and by 2003, the wild population declined to approximately 30 individual marmots before collaborative conservation action helped prevent extinction.
Vancouver Island marmots live in alpine and subalpine meadows on mountainous terrain. They rely open meadow habitat maintained by avalanche cycles, with native vegetation for feeding and burrows or rock piles for escape from predators. Deeper burrows called hibernacula, dug below the frost line, are used for hibernation.
This species is found only on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Canada holds 100% of the global population, making its survival a Canadian conservation priority shared across communities and conservation partners.
Habitat fragmentation, predation, climate change, and small, isolated populations continue to threaten recovery.
Vancouver Island marmots are large, sciurid rodents that live in burrows. They’re known for their dark fur, loud alarm whistles called the “keaw”, and highly social behaviour, and are found only in remote mountain habitats of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
This species is uniquely Canadian and is recognized by its chocolate-brown fur and highly social, colonial behaviour. They’re also known for their distinctive vocalizations, including their “Kee-aw”, thought to be a call between parents and their young.
This species inhabits alpine and subalpine regions across Vancouver Island, living in colonies on mountains separated by forested valleys.
The Vancouver Island marmot is one of the largest members of the squirrel family, measuring roughly 65-70 centimetres long and weighing up to 7.5 kilograms. Adults have chocolate-brown fur with lighter markings on the face and chest, while younger marmots appear nearly black.
The Vancouver Island marmot is one of only five mammals endemic to Canada, existing nowhere outside Vancouver Island. Its survival represents more than saving a single species; it reflects our collective responsibility to protect irreplaceable ecosystems and Canada’s heritage.
Living only on Vancouver Island, losing this species would mean losing a uniquely Canadian part of our shared ecological story. Vancouver Island marmots are the largest burrowing mammal living in this habitat and contribute to shaping the alpine habitat through burrowing, and soil movement. By moving large amounts of soil, they mix nutrients, alter soil properties, and create varied vegetation patches. Their presence benefits other wildlife and helps sustain plant and habitat diversity.
In the late 80s and early 90s, Vancouver Island marmot populations declined rapidly, likely due to land use changes, primarily logging which disrupted dispersal and increased predation pressure. Today, the species still faces ongoing pressures from climate change, severe weather, low reproduction rates, and small, disconnected populations that remain vulnerable without support.
The Wilder Institute has been involved in Vancouver Island marmot recovery since 1998. Current efforts are focused across three areas: conservation breeding, development of technology to advance monitoring efforts and applied research across the conservation breeding program, and in the wild. Working alongside government agencies, researchers, conservation groups, and local communities, we contribute to evidence-based science and long-term collaboration to build a future where the marmot population thrives.
We maintain a carefully managed conservation breeding program at the Wilder Institute’s Archibald Biodiversity Centre. We select breeding pairs based on genetics to preserve diversity and reduce inbreeding, and marmots born here will either be released into the wild by our partners at Marmot Recovery Foundation or become part of the conservation breeding population at our facility, the Toronto Zoo, or Marmot Recovery Foundations ‘ Tony Barrett Mount Washington Marmot Recovery Centre.
As the wild population continues to expand, it is becoming increasingly difficult to collect data on population numbers, growth, and health across the remote, hard-to-access alpine terrain. To overcome these challenges, we work to develop and deploy innovative field monitoring methods. In collaboration with our engineering partners, we have built and field-tested remote weigh scales that enable non-invasive monitoring of body condition across the active season. We are continuing to develop additional passive monitoring tools, including AI-assisted camera trap image processing and purpose-built passive integrated transponder (PIT-tag) readers, to scale up data collection capacity across the species’ range.
Our research spans the full arc of the marmot’s life in the program – from the conservation breeding facility to the wild. In the conservation-breeding program, we study factors that influence reproduction, health, and survival. We also conduct research in the wild – collaborating with our partners to evaluate the impact of recovery efforts such as the stepping-stone release technique and supplemental feeding and working to close key knowledge gaps outlined the current Recovery Strategy. Together, this research aims to refine recovery efforts to make them as effective as possible.
Collaborative conservation programs helping recover species and protect mountain ecosystems.
Since 1998, the Wilder Institute has worked with members of the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Team (now operating as the Recovery Implementation Group) and other partners to facilitate conservation breeding for reintroduction and applied research toward recovery. We maintain one of three conservation breeding facilities in Canada, contribute individuals for wild release, and conduct research to close knowledge gaps that shape recovery strategies.
Conservation breeding takes place across Canada with Toronto Zoo and Marmot Recovery Foundation. Our conservation breeding programs occur at the Wilder Institute’s Archibald Biodiversity Centre – this facility gives Vancouver Island marmots the space to dig, explore, and raise pups underground, much like they would do in the wild. Field research extends to Vancouver Island’s remote sub-alpine and alpine terrain, where field crews hike into the small, connected colonies that have been reestablished in the species’ historic range.
~425
37
116
The highest number ever recorded in the wild Habitat & Range
This species lives only within alpine and subalpine regions of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
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