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Article: Global warming is marmot wake-up call.(research indicates global warming is shortening marmots' hibernation periods)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- April 29, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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If Punxsutawney Phil lived in Colorado instead of Pennsylvania, the groundhog weather predictor might need to forecast an early spring every year.
Yellow-bellied marmots (also known as groundhogs or woodchucks) are now emerging from their 8-to-9-month hibernations 38 days earlier than they did 23 years ago, according to a long-term study by scientists working at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Crested Butte, Colo.
Global warming may be cutting short the marmots' long winter naps, says David W. Inouye, a biologist at the University of Maryland, College Park. The warmer the temperatures, the earlier the marmots' appearance.
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