152 



The Living Animals of the World 



Alps- just below the line of perpetual snow. From five to fifteen marmots combine in 

 colonies, dig very deep holes, and, like the prairie-dogs, carefully line them with grass ; they 

 also store up dry grass for food. In autumn they grow very fat, and are then dug out of 

 the burrows by the mountaineers for food. Young marmots used to be tamed and carried 

 about by the Savoyard boys, but this practice is now rare. The monkey is probably more 

 attractive to the public than the fat and sleepy marmot. Marmots are about the size of 

 a rabbit, and have close iron-grey fur. 



Tschudi, the naturalist of the Alps, says of the marmots that they are the only mammal 

 which inhabits the region of the snows. No other warm-blooded quadrupeds live at such an 

 altitude. In spring, when the lower snows melt, there are generally small pieces of short turf 

 near their holes, as well as great rocks, precipices, and stones. Here they make their burrows, 

 outside which they feed, with a sentinel always posted to warn them of the approach of the 

 eagle or lammergeir. The young marmots, from four to six in number, are born in June. 

 When they first appear at the mouth of the holes, they are bluish grey; later the fur gains 

 a brownish tint. The burrows are usually at a height of not less than 7,000 or 8,000 feet. 

 Winter comes on apace. By the end of autumn the ground is already covered with snow, 

 and the marmots retire to sleep through the long winter. As they do not become torpid for 

 some time, they require food when there is none accessible ; this they store up in the form 

 of dried grass, which they cut in August, and leave outside their burrows for a time to be 

 turned into hay. 



The ALPINE MARMOT is also found in the Carpathians and the Pyrenees. Another species, 

 the BOBAC, ranges eastward from the German frontier across Poland, Kussia, and the steppes 

 of Asia to Kamchatka. In Ladak and Western Tibet a short-tailed species, the HIMALAYAN 

 MARMOT, is found, sometimes living at a height of nearly 17,000 feet. The GOLDEN MARMOT 

 is found in the Pamirs. 



THE BEAVERS. 



The BEAVERS are classed as the last family of the squirrel-like group of the Eodents, and 

 the largest creatures of that order in the northern hemisphere. The value of their fur has 

 caused their destruction in great measure where they were once numerous, and has led to 



their total extirpation where there 

 is evidence that they existed as a 

 not uncommon animal. They were 

 formerly distributed over the greater 

 part of Europe. In England semi- 

 fossilised remains show that they were 

 not uncommon. In Wales beavers' 

 skins were mentioned in the year 

 940 in the laws of Howel Dha. and 

 in 1188 Giraldus stated that they 

 were living on the river Teify, in 

 Cardiganshire. Beavers were formerly 

 found in France, especially on the 

 Rhone, where a few are still said to 

 survive, in Germany, Austria, Eussia, 

 Poland, and in Sweden and Norway, 

 on the rivers Dvvina and Petchora, and 

 on the great rivers of Siberia. A 

 few still remain in two districts of 



By permission of the Acw Tort Zoological Society. 



AMERICAN BEAVEE. Norway, and some were known to 



The engineering feats of the beavers, in damming streams and forming pools, are the ireqiient the Elbe in 18/8. The 

 most remarkable achievements performed by living animals. MoldaU, in Bohemia, is also Credited 



