Marmots live across much of the Northern Hemisphere, from the meadows and rocky slopes of North America to the mountain ranges of Europe and Central Asia. Their range stretches from the European Alps through the Himalayas and northeastern Siberia all the way to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, with additional species scattered across the mountains and valleys of the western United States and Canada. There are roughly 15 species in total, and while most are high-altitude animals, at least one thrives at low elevations too.
Range Across North America
North America is home to several marmot species, each occupying a distinct slice of the continent. The most widespread is the groundhog (also called the woodchuck), which ranges from the eastern United States and Canada westward into the Great Plains. Unlike its mountain-dwelling relatives, the groundhog lives near rocky outcrops from valley bottoms all the way up to alpine tundra, though it avoids dense forest.
In the western mountains, the yellow-bellied marmot is the most commonly encountered species. It inhabits rocky meadows and talus slopes throughout the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and other ranges from British Columbia south to New Mexico. The hoary marmot, a larger and grayer species, occupies alpine boulder fields from Alaska and the Yukon down through Montana and Washington. Hoary marmots are patchily distributed across the landscape, typically found in areas where boulder fields and slab rock make up 20 to 80 percent of the ground cover.
Two species have extremely small ranges. The Olympic marmot lives only in the mountainous meadows of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, with its range largely contained within Olympic National Park. The Vancouver Island marmot is even more restricted, occurring only in the mountains of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A 2022 survey counted approximately 204 Vancouver Island marmots in the wild, spread across 27 colonies. Far to the north, the Alaska marmot inhabits the Brooks Range, where grizzly bears are among its main predators.
Range Across Europe and Asia
The alpine marmot is the signature species of Europe, found throughout the Alps and reintroduced to parts of the Pyrenees and Carpathians. In the Alps, these marmots typically live between 1,200 and 2,700 meters (roughly 3,900 to 8,900 feet), sometimes reaching 3,000 meters. They favor open grassland above the tree line and avoid forested slopes.
Across the vast grasslands of Central Asia, the steppe marmot (also called the bobak) occupies a different kind of habitat: flat or gently rolling plains rather than steep alpine terrain. Its range extends from Ukraine and southern Russia eastward through Kazakhstan. The Himalayan marmot, meanwhile, lives on the high plateaus of the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding ranges, one of the harshest environments any marmot calls home. Additional species are found in Mongolia, the mountains of Central Asia, and across Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia’s Pacific coast.
Preferred Terrain and Elevation
Most marmots share a strong preference for open, treeless landscapes with good visibility and rocky terrain for denning. Alpine grasslands, meadows, scree fields, and boulder-strewn slopes are the classic marmot habitat. A study of alpine marmots in the Alps found that site occupancy peaked around 2,500 meters, while elevations below 2,000 meters and above 2,900 meters were rarely occupied. Marmots generally avoid dense shrubland and forest, where their ability to spot predators drops sharply.
Rocky ground isn’t just a preference; it’s a necessity. Marmots dig extensive burrow systems beneath rocks and boulders, which provide structural support for tunnels and insulation during hibernation. Research on hoary marmots in Montana confirmed that boulder fields are a defining feature of occupied sites. Without large rocks, marmots have little protection from digging predators or the elements.
How Burrows Shape Where Marmots Live
A marmot’s home is underground, and the burrow system is central to where a colony can establish itself. Studies of Himalayan marmots on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau measured average first-tunnel lengths of about 2.5 meters (roughly 8 feet), with the underground system branching into multiple chambers used for breeding, hibernation, and food storage. Burrow volume averaged about 0.29 cubic meters, slightly larger than a typical hibernation chamber alone. The soil needs to be deep enough and stable enough to support these structures, which is one reason marmots gravitate toward meadows with underlying rock rather than loose sand or waterlogged ground.
Burrow location also varies by slope and sun exposure. Himalayan marmots build tunnels of slightly different lengths depending on whether the slope faces the sun or sits in shade, likely reflecting differences in soil temperature and frost depth. In colder, shadier areas, tunnels tend to be a bit longer, possibly to reach the stable temperatures needed for surviving months of hibernation.
Colony Size and Territory
Marmots are social animals, and most species live in colonies ranging from a handful of individuals to a few dozen. The territory a colony defends is relatively compact. Research on yellow-bellied marmots found that the average home range for an individual was about 2,300 square meters, roughly half an acre. Colonies at higher, more open sites like Montana’s North Pole Basin used larger foraging areas (about 0.6 hectares) compared to those in narrower valley settings (about 0.36 hectares). Non-colonial males that roam between groups can cover vastly more ground, with home ranges averaging over 5 hectares and sometimes exceeding 47 hectares.
This compact colony structure means marmots don’t need huge tracts of habitat, but they do need the right kind of habitat in close proximity: open meadows for foraging, boulders or rocky outcrops for burrow entrances, and slopes with good drainage. When all three come together, a colony can persist in the same spot for generations.
How Climate Is Shifting Marmot Habitat
Rising temperatures are beginning to reshape where marmots can live, particularly in mountain environments. As tree lines creep upward, the open alpine meadows marmots depend on are shrinking. A 40-year resurvey of alpine marmot distribution in the Alps examined whether populations had shifted to higher ground. The study found that marmots strongly prefer grassland over dwarf-shrub or scree habitats and are naturally absent from forested areas. As forests expand upslope, the band of suitable habitat narrows from below while the rocky, barren peaks limit expansion from above.
For species already confined to small ranges, this squeeze is especially dangerous. The Vancouver Island marmot, with only about 200 individuals in the wild, has little room to move. The Olympic marmot faces similar constraints on its isolated peninsula. Even widespread species like the yellow-bellied marmot could see fragmented habitat as meadows shrink and colonies become more isolated from one another, making it harder for roaming males to connect populations.