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On our open spaces full of small and huge animals. But not a secondary role is occupied by rodents, especially Mongolian Tarbagans.
Visual characteristics of tarbagans
This animal belongs to the class of marmots. His body is quite large and weighty. The size varies from 55 to 63 centimeters, males are 5 centimeters larger than females.
These little animals have a weight of 4-8 kilograms. The head resembles a rabbit, its average size. The marmot's eyes are rather dark in color, the nose is also gloomy. The neck is not long, and olfactory and visual abilities are at a high level.
The paws are small, but the tail is long and about the size of one third of the length of the whole body. Also Mongolian rodents have sharp and strong claws. The teeth are as long as rabbits and beavers, the fur coat also has beauty and is usually either sandy or brownish. It is known that the color of a fur coat is much lighter after winter than before winter.
Animal hair is endowed with increased subtlety and density. It has an average length and is quite soft to the touch. On the paws of red hair, and at the end of the tail and the head is dark. The ears are like a circle, however, the same tendency is noticeable in the red legs.
Talas Tarbagan has the smallest appearance, it has reddish fur with lit spots on its sides. In general, the color of these "protein" depends on the region in which they live. There are gray and yellow, and red, and darkish individuals. The color of the animals is focused on location features, it protects rodents from a variety of dangerous enemies.
Places of residence Tarbagan
The center and east of Kyrgyzstan, and also Altai filled the special Altai tarbagan. And Yakut marmots have chosen the southern and eastern parts of Yakutia, as well as the western territories of Transbaikalia and the north of the Far East.
A Talas marmot is located on the mountainous terrain of Tien Shan, a black-capped rodent lives on Kamchatka, it is also called tarbagan there. Well, and completes the exhibition Fergana Tarbagan, settled in Asia.
The easiest way to meet the Tarbagan is in the meadows, in the steppes, in the forest-steppe areas, in the foothills and at the river basins. They love to live in the 500-3000 meters above sea level.
Features of life
Groundhogs prefer a collective life. Despite the colony, there is a hierarchical layer in the form of a family. Each rodent family has its own mink, including breeding grounds, winter shelters, summer shelters, catacombs with a couple of exits and other underground lairs intended for a specific purpose.
Tarbagans create a lot of shelters, as they cannot escape from the agile predator due to their low speed. Their burrows are approximately 3 to 5 meters deep, and the length of the strokes is 20–50 meters.
The family is a company of the Tarbagans, having related relations. Each family enters one or another colony, so there can be several families in one colony. The family structure consists of parents and children up to 2 years old.
The settlement lives in harmony, but outsiders within the family are not welcomed, and even driven off. In one colony there are about 15 - 20 marmots, but this is the case when there is a harvest. In the years of hunger, the number of settlements can be reduced to a couple of rodents.
Small animals prefer to run in the daytime, usually, their awakening starts from eight or nine in the morning and lasts until six or seven in the evening. The whole family is focused on survival, the day is the construction of new holes and the extraction of food, but not all are doing it, someone is on guard and warns his relatives when a threat occurs. A noticeable whistle is given as an alarm signal, and it saves these animals from predators.
In general, these rodents, even in the event of safety, are anxious. They can stay out of the hole for a long time, sniff and look, and only after fully understanding what is happening, leave their underground residence.
Hibernation and nutrition
With the onset of the September fall, hibernation of the Tarbagans begins, they hide deep in the burrows and sleep for 7 months. The colder the climate, the longer the hibernation lasts, and the warmer, the less.
They block entry into the burrow with waste, grass and earth. They are experiencing a cold winter due to hanging snowdrifts and joint hibernation, when all the sleeping ones unite in one place and warm each other, thereby maintaining their body temperature.
Food after awakening begins in the spring, after the summer molt, the process of reproduction and accumulation of fat. Rodents feed on herbs, berries, roots. But they do not feed on agricultural crops for the reason that they are not settled in the fields. When eating, they try to sit and hold their food in their paws. In springtime, there is no particular grass, therefore tarbagans feed on the roots and bulbs of various plant species.
In addition to plants, small insects such as locusts, snails, crickets, ants also enter the stomach of animals.Tarbagans do not intend to eat insects, but on some days they make up one third of the food.
It would be worthwhile to think that tarbagans are vegetarians for the most part, but by growing them in reserves, one can be sure that they are very eager to absorb meat. The animals are able to gain up to a kilogram of body fat in one season under favorable conditions. They practically do not drink water, and increasingly prefer to chew something.
Life cycle and breeding period
A month passes from the moment of hibernation, and the Tarbagans begin the process of reproduction. Pregnancy of females lasts 5–7 weeks, and the number of “hatched” children varies from 4 to 6 individuals, but a little more happens. Newborns do not have fur, they are born blind and rather helpless. Only three weeks later, they open their eyes.
Young rodents consume mother's milk for one or two months, during the period of maternal feeding, they gain a substantial 2 kilograms and grow to 30-40 centimeters. A month passes, and newborns begin to be interested in the world, they crawl out of the hole and start frolicking like little children.The first hibernation of young animals takes place in the parent estate, only a year later they acquire their own family.
Tarbagans live approximately ten years in natural conditions, and under the supervision of a person they manage to live to 20 years. People appreciate tarbagan fat, they say that it has a healing effect, it is especially good for restoring the skin during burns and hypothermia.
Many hunters are interested in fat, fur and meat of rodents, as there is a demand for it in society. As a result of constant hunting for these animals, their population has been seriously shaken. And now the Tarbagans are on the verge of extinction, and even are listed in the Red Book of Russia.
Video: Tarbagan (Marmota sibirica)
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