Picture of the day

The Alpine marmot (Marmota marmota) is a large ground-dwelling squirrel, from the genus of marmots. It is found in high numbers in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, at heights between 800 and 3,200 metres (2,600 and 10,500 feet) in the Alps, the Carpathians, the Tatras, and the northern Apennines. In 1948, the species was reintroduced with success in the Pyrenees, where it had disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. This Alpine marmot was photographed in the Grand Muveran federal game reserve, in the Swiss canton of Vaud.Photograph credit: Giles Laurent