On Friday I gave you this skull to identify:

I was impressed by the speed with which everyone recognised this as being a large member if the squirrel family – the Sciuridae.

There were several hints of Groundhog, but this is actually the skull of a European member of the same genus, the  Alpine Marmot Marmota marmota (Linnaeus, 1758).

These large rodents live in mountainous regions of Europe on south-facing pastures. They eat vegetation and harvest plant material for insulation and food to survive the harsh mountain winters.

Here is an example of a typical day in the life of a Marmot in the French Pyrenees: