< img src="https://savageventures.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/marmot.jpeg?w=688"alt =""> A traveler got much too close to a marmot in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, and according to those who witnessed the minute, it didn’t go so well. The @touronsofnationalparks Instagram account shared a picture of the lady as she extended her hand to the animal, most likely to let it sniff her before providing it a pet.
The caption reads “it scratched her right after.” Whoops.
Marmots are large rodents that reside in some locations of North America and Eurasia. You might likewise call them “huge ground squirrels,” considering that they can weigh as much as 15.4 pounds, with bodies almost two feet long. There are 14 species worldwide, consisting of yellow-bellied marmots, which reside in the Rocky Mountains of the United States.
They can be pretty charming, however you should not family pet them.
According to the USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), yellow-bellied marmots are hosts to a variety of illness, “some of which might be straight or indirectly transferred to people; for instance, Rocky Mountain Identified Fever (Rickettsia rickettsii; Cockrum 1997) and sylvatic pester (Yersinia pestis; Nelson 1980).”
Hopefully this tourist came away with nothing more than a scratch and a life lesson:
Have you seen visitors make questionable choices in national parks?
A tourist got much too close to a marmot in Rocky Mountain National Forest, and it didn’t go so well, according to a witness.