Hey you biologists, What type of Marmot is this?

BRI

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Sep 30, 2005
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Location
Anduhconduh, Montana
I spent some time up in the high country near Jackson, Wyoming and came across this cool critter. At 9500' I thought hoary but have never seen one this color before. Plus it looks like their range doesn't extend this far south. Maybe yellow-bellied but I couldn't find any pictures with this color variation?
20160731_122129.jpg
 
It's a melanistic yellow bellied marmot. Melanism (dark fur) is apparently unique to those of the species found in the Teton Range. Can't make a link to a pdf work from my phone, but if you Google "melanistic marmot Wyoming" you'll get some links to papers from research on the subject.

Nice pic!
 
I quickly identified the Melanistic Marmot Scat in the lower right. That would be the lead singers nickname.
 
Yeti GOBOX Collection

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