The
alpine marmot (
Marmota marmota) is a species of
marmot found in mountainous areas of central and southern
Europe. Alpine marmots live at heights between 800 and 3,200 metres in the
Alps,
Carpathians,
Tatras, the
Pyrenees and Northern
Apennines in Italy. They were reintroduced with success in the Pyrenees in 1948, where the alpine marmot had disappeared at end of the
Pleistocene epoch. They are excellent diggers, able to penetrate
soil that even a
pickaxe would have difficulty with, and spend up to nine months per year in
hibernation.