Menzbier's marmot
| Menzbier's marmot | ||||||||||||
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Menzbier's marmot ( Marmota menzbieri ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Marmota menzbieri | ||||||||||||
| ( Kashkarov , 1925) |
Menzbier's marmot ( Marmota menzbieri ) is a species of the squirrel family . The distribution area is unusually small and only includes the west of the Tianshan . It is named after the Russian zoologist Mikhail Alexandrowitsch Menzbier .
With a body length of 40 to 45 centimeters and an average body weight of 2.5 kilograms, Menzbier's marmot is the smallest species of marmot . It is classified as an independent species because of its small size, its characteristic coat color, its peculiar reputation, which differs from that of the other marmots, and the significantly different penis bone (it is almost straight and has no widening at the tip).
The habitats of this species have very similar characteristics. The animals settle on steep slopes that have a thick and well-developed lawn cover. The marmot prefers to use slopes which, in addition to areas with no early snow, also have areas with long-lasting areas of snow. These areas, which slowly thaw during the summer, give off sufficient moisture so that new plants with young, juicy shoots, which these marmots prefer as food, constantly grow back.
swell
literature
- Dmitri Iwanowitsch Bibikow : The marmots of the world. Marmota (= The New Brehm Library. Vol. 388). 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition. Westarp-Wissenschaften et al., Magdeburg et al. 1996, ISBN 3-89432-426-0 .
- Monika Preleuthner, Gerhard Aubrecht (Ed.): Marmots (= catalog of the Upper Austrian State Museum. NF No. 146 = Stapfia. Vol. 63). Biology Center, Linz 1999, ISBN 3-85474-044-1 , online at ZOBODAT