Wilder Institute welcomes new Vancouver Island marmot pups

Vancouver Island marmot adult enjoying its outdoor habitat at the ABC. (Supplied/Wilder Institute)

An endangered species has welcomed more than a dozen to its numbers.

There are 14 new Vancouver Island marmot pups at the Wilder Institute.

The marmots were moved to the new facility for this year’s breeding season, meaning there could be even more pups.

“Their outdoor habitat (allows) them to perform natural behaviours such as digging burrows underground,” said the zoo in a statement.

“The marmots may choose to give birth underground instead of the nest boxes…surprise pups could still be on the way.”

So far 214 marmots have been born at the Institute; 157 of those sent to the Marmot Recovery Foundation, their partners, in B.C., who then release them into the wild.

But some of these new pups may stick around.

“In some cases, the organizations may retain marmots in their conservation breeding program to maintain genetic diversity,” officials said in a statement.

They said that no matter where the pups are, they will still represent Alberta “with names such as ‘Namaka’ (southern Alberta hamlet near the facility) and ‘Tyrrell’ (after Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum).”

This species of marmot is uniquely Canadian and started depleting in population in the 1990s.

By 1998 there were only 70 marmots left.

With the efforts of the Wilder Institute, Toronto Zoo and the Tony Barrett Mt. Washington Marmot Recovery Centre those numbers have risen.