Holarctic Marmots as a factor of Biodiversity.
Rumiantsev V.Yu;, Nikol'skii A.A. & Brandler O.V. eds.,
Abstracts,
3d Conference on Marmots (Cheboksary, Russia, 25-30 August 1997),
Moscow ABF 1997, 216p. : 196-197.
DYNAMIC OF WINTER HIBERNATION OF SINGLE LIVED STEPPE MARMOTS
V.V. Sukhov, I.V. Rymalov
Severtsov' IPEE RAS,
Moscow, Russia
The mortality of migrants is one of the mechanisms of density regulation in population of marmots. There are no real data about factors which define the mortality of migrants in nature. Probably many of them die during winter period if they hibernate alone. It is very difficult to test this fact is the field.
We observed dynamic of the body temperature of three single lived steppe marmots in captivity during December - January period. The dynamic was broken in all marmots. They support body temperature at the level more high then 200C. Only sometimes at the short period (1 - days) it fell below 100. The dynamic in groups differs from this type. The marmots body temperature in groups was below 100 and only sometimes raised at the level above 200.
All single lived marmots were wasted. One of them died. And the body temperature of another marmots fell to the level 50C in February.
This facts testify to high mortality of single lived steppe marmots during winter period. Probably some of migrants in nature perish during hibernation if they are in borrow alone.