Baby boom of 59 pups helps endangered Vancouver Island marmot toward recovery

A tenacious Vancouver Island marmot's long-distance quest for love may help explain how the endangered animals are bouncing back from near extinction.

A tenacious Vancouver Island marmot's long-distance quest for love may help explain how the endangered animals are bouncing back from near extinction.

Adam Taylor, executive director of the Marmot Recovery Foundation in Nanaimo, B.C., said Camas the marmot wandered for 35 kilometres over mountains and down valleys looking for a mate.

“There are not many marmots. It's a pretty small community. So, finding a partner can be a challenge. He's really kind of gone the whole nine yards to track somebody down,” said Taylor.

Camas was released by their program last year, but they lost track of him over the winter. When he reappeared last spring he wandered from marmot colony to colony.

“We actually got a phone call from a farmer in a little town called Barrington to say, 'I've got a marmot in my backyard,”' Taylor said, confirming it was Camas.

“He is a survivor, he has undertaken this incredible journey, you know 35 kilometres up and down literal mountains, looking for the right partners,” said Taylor.

The Vancouver Island marmot is one of Canada's most endangered species. With beaver-like bucked teeth, fluffy chocolate brown fur and tail and white patches on their nose, forehead and chest, the rodents have five distinct whistles or trills they use, more than any other marmot species.