Rare video captures newborn Vancouver Island marmots at B.C. recovery centre

For the first few weeks of their lives, Vancouver Island marmot pups remain almost entirely out of sight.

Born underground, the critically endangered animals spend their earliest days in burrows, blind, hairless and dependent on their mothers.

On Wednesday, conservationists released exceptionally rare footage showing that hidden stage of life.

The Marmot Recovery Foundation shared video this week from a remote nest camera at the Tony Barrett Mount Washington Marmot Recovery Centre showing newborn pups beside their mother, Anna2.

“This is an exceptionally rare look at newborn Vancouver Island marmots,” the foundation said in a social media post.

According to the organization, female marmots often keep fathers and other family members away from the burrow while the pups are still vulnerable.

The young marmots are expected to remain underground for about a month before emerging with fur and at a much larger size.

The pups could eventually be released into the wild next summer as part of a decades-long effort to save one of Canada’s most endangered mammals.

Found only on Vancouver Island, the species once hovered near extinction. In 2003, researchers counted just 22 marmots in the wild.

Captive breeding and release programs have since helped rebuild the population. Last year, the Marmot Recovery Foundation said the number of wild Vancouver Island marmots had climbed to a record 427 animals.

The recovery effort extends beyond British Columbia.

The Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo has bred Vancouver Island marmots since the late 1990s and has helped raise hundreds of animals for release. Marmots born in Calgary are often transferred to the Mount Washington recovery centre before being released into alpine habitat on Vancouver Island.

Despite the population gains, conservationists say the species remains critically endangered and continues to face threats from predators, habitat loss, and climate pressures.

For recovery staff, each new litter is another step toward securing the future of a species found nowhere else in the world.