Tarbagan marmot
| Tarbagan marmot | |
|---|---|
_-_Rochers-de-Naye,_Switzerland,_2009.JPG) |
|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Genus: | Marmota |
| Subgenus: | Marmota |
| Species: | M. sibirica |
| Binomial name | |
| Marmota sibirica (Radde, 1862) |
|
The Tarbagan marmot (Marmota sibirica) is a species of rodent in the Sciuridae family. It is found in China (Inner Mongolia and Heilungjiang), northern and western Mongolia, and Russia (southwest Siberia, Tuva, Transbaikalia).[2] In the Mongolian Altai the range overlaps with that of the Gray Marmot.[3] The species was classified as Endangered by the IUCN in 2008.[1]
Two subspecies are distinguished:[2]
- M. s. sibirica
- M. s. caliginosus
The tarbagan marmot has been eaten for centuries in the native cuisine of Mongolia, and in particular are used to make a dish called boodog. The meat is cooked by inserting hot stones, preheated in a fire, into the abdominal cavity of a deboned marmot. The skin is then tied up to make a bag within which the meat cooks.[4] Hunting of marmots for food is typically done in autumn when the animals are heavier since they are preparing for hibernation.[5]
Epizootics of the plague are known to occur in tarbagan marmots in northeastern China and Mongolia.[6] The plague in marmots is of the pneumonic form, spread by marmots coughing.[7] The plague can jump from marmots to human through the bite of the tarbagan flea (Ceratophyllus silantievi), or through consumption of meat.[6] Marmot epizootics are known to co-occur with human epidemics in the same area.[6] Human plague epidemics in this area are largely pneumonic plague, the most deadly form of plague.[6][8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Batbold, J., Batsaikhan, N., Tsytsulina, K. & Sukchuluun, G. (2008). Marmota sibirica. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 6 January 2009.
- ^ a b Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=12400967.
- ^ Konstantin A. Rogovin: Habitat use by two species of Mongolian marmots (Marmota sibirica and M. baibacina) in a zone of sympatry. Acta Theriologica 37 (4): 345-350. Abstract online
- ^ "Boodog: Hot Stones in Stomach". Cuisine of Mongolia. http://www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/boodog.html. Retrieved 2009-11-27.
- ^ Carole, Pegg (2001). Mongolian music, dance, and oral narrative. University of Washington Press. p. 294. ISBN 0-295-98030-3.
- ^ a b c d Elton, C.S. (1925). "Plague and the Regulation of Numbers in Wild Mammals". J. Of Hygiene 24 (2): 138–163. doi:10.1017/S0022172400008652. PMC 2167669. PMID 20474858. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2167669.
- ^ Kelly, John (2006). The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. HarperCollins. p. 300. ISBN 0060006935. OCLC 68437303.
- ^ "Plague breaks out in China's Tibet". The Sydney Morning Herald. September 26, 2010. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/plague-breaks-out-in-chinas-tibet-20100926-15s6z.html.
- Thorington, R. W. Jr. and R. S. Hoffman. 2005. Family Sciuridae. pp. 754–818 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
| This ground squirrel article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
