Talgat, speaking with a Turmush correspondent, shared his impressions of the encounter that took place in December 2025. In the snowy mountains, he noticed a solitary marmot that was on an open slope instead of in its usual winter sleep. “I guided it to the nearest burrow, and it quickly disappeared inside. But its behavior was strange — the marmot did not try to run away and showed no fear of humans. I had often seen these animals in the mountains, but this was my first encounter with one in winter,” Talgat noted.
Ecologist Alexander Sosnovsky explained why the marmot behaved so unusually. “The phrase ‘sleeps like a marmot’ emphasizes the duration of their sleep. Marmots living in our mountains can sleep for seven to eight months straight and are only active from April to August. At the age of three, they begin to reproduce, and in May-June, they give birth to 3 to 5 offspring. When they reach the size of a ground squirrel, they emerge from their burrows, play amusingly, and chase each other under the watchful eye of adults,” he said.
Marmots create deep burrows and gather in a wintering chamber, where they hibernate. Interestingly, they expel sick or weakened relatives from the burrow, indicating a high level of self-preservation instinct. Marmots understand that a sick individual can threaten the entire family, and its death in the burrow during hibernation could spoil the winter sleep of the others. Additionally, it is important to remember that marmots can be carriers of diseases dangerous to humans, including plague. Therefore, if travelers or hunters encounter a marmot behaving strangely, it should be killed and the carcass burned,” the ecologist added.
According to Sosnovsky, the activity of marmots in creating burrows plays an important role in the ecosystems of the mountains. They bring internal layers of soil to the surface, contribute to drainage and aeration of the soil, and also change the vegetation cover. Some plant species in the mountains can only grow in marmot colonies known as “butans.”
