Meet the inaugural winner of Fat Marmot Week
Reported byNPR Science ↗·Sourced by Goodlede
Dawn, a yellow-bellied marmot in Colorado, won the first-ever Fat Marmot Week by gaining 4.5 pounds to reach 13 pounds total, beating seven other marmots competing to bulk up before winter hibernation. The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory's Marmot Project created the event to celebrate these alpine rodents and raise awareness amid research funding cuts.
Marmots are the world's biggest true hibernators; bears enter torpor rather than true hibernation.
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