The Marmota marmota genome project. Marmota marmota

Alpine marmots are descendants of pleistocene rodents, who failed to re-adapt to warm climates. This restricted their existence to a few ecological niches, such as high-altitude mountain regions in the central Alps. Marmots are social and largely monogamic animals that have been genetically isolated for > 20,000 years, manage to survive with 1.2 kg body fat for 8 months, and have interesting features to adapt their body temperature. A recent monitoring study that was conducted over two decades associated decrasing litter size with climate change. The marmot fat have long been used to relieve pain and inflammation in alternative medicine. These make them unique genetic models to study both metabolism and climate adaptation.