As you can see on the picture below, she has a stocky body, powerful and flexible, with short limbs with five claws on hind legs and only four at the back legs; inconspicuous ears, huge teeth and long fingernails; every tools to be a great digger!
The fur's colour is brown to grey.
Spending 80% of her life underground, she also is well equipped to move in the burrow obscurity: plenty of hairs in her moustache, on the chin and on the eyebrows that are used as antennas in the tunnels' darkness.
She can't see in the night and you will never spot a marmot outside during the night even under full moon light!

At the beginning of April, marmots start to wake up from their long winter hibernation. Most of the time, there is still snow around and that makes the first week outside more difficult. All the members of a family hibernate together to keep the youngest warm but they don't wake up at the same time: it will take a week to have everybody out.
They won't eat straight away; for a week they will still live on their fat reserves to allow their digestive system to start up. If they don't do so, they can die from indigestion; by the way, a lot of them will suffer from it by eating too much!
It is also the time of the greatest danger: the golden eagle, their worst enemy, as well as their other predators such as fox, wolves ... is looking for fresh food after a tough winter!

When snow is melted, they will join their summer burrows and start cleaning and enlarge them. These summer burrows are generally higher in altitude, of 15 cm in diameter and of variable length (2 m to 20 m). The main entrance leads to a room with a cosy hay bed; from there a tunnel lead to the toilet room: marmots are clean animals and they store their dejections there as well as dirty or wet hay. In colonies, a wide spread web of galleries goes from rooms to rooms and offers a lot of entrances to escape danger.
A strong odour at the entrance of a tunnel is the print that marmots live here!

After two weeks outside, starts the mating season. Games, few battle between males and cries are the only visible signs. It is at that time that couples are formed and will hold a territory and burrow complex.

It is a period where families have aggressive behaviours towards each others.
Outside this period, marmots are social animals and several families (a couple, their offspring from the year and the 2 or 3 past years - 5 to 15 animals) can live in the same area. However, each family will hibernate in its own burrow.

At the beginning of June, the female will give birth to 2 to 6 babies as big as mice, blind and without fur.
Females produce a litter every two years because the nice season is very short in mountains and they will have to breed their babies and get fat for the winter hibernation.
After 15 days, covered of fur, the young marmots start to go out on the platform outside the burrow. Very curious, they love to play and will start whistle at the end of July. They will become adults at 3 or 4 years old and can live up to 16 years old which is very old for rodents.

During that period, the colony as a very regulate life. Gradually, they will spend less hours outside, during mid-September they spend 3 hours less outside than in July. At the end of the season, they spend all their time feeding. They have a beautiful autumn fur and are in great form, fat enough to go through the winter. An adult has 2 kg of pure fat!

At the end of September, the marmots stop feeding and start collecting hay. When temperature is below 12°C, they will join their winter burrows for 6 months hibernation!