11 October 2026

Marmots and Mountain Beavers of the PNW

My first mammal watching trip report on my encounters with two species of Marmot and the elusive mountain beaver in the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA and Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.

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Unique Mammals of the Upper PNW

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Andy Parks
I am an avid wildlife watcher and professional wildlife biologist with a background in herpetology, but have recently gotten into more serious mammal-watching. Currently based in Washington State, USA. andrewjparks.wordpress.com
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3 Comments

  • 17 October 2026
    Coke Smith

    Great stuff Andy – has the Olympic Chipmunk been codified as its own species yet?

    • 21 October 2026
      Andy Parks

      No, and from what I’ve seen in the literature there is conflicting morphological and genetic data over whether it should even be considered a valid subspecies. mtDNA doesn’t support it, and no one has looked at nuclear DNA for these populations as far as I can tell. I’d like to see a new intensive rangewide systematics study done on N. amoenus.

  • 22 October 2026
    Ralf Bürglin

    Very inspiring. I also visited your website. Great stuff!

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