Environment & Climate
Colorado scientists launch Fat Marmot Week to fund alpine climate research
Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory turn to public voting, social media, and cryptocurrency donations after federal funding cuts threaten a 64-year-old mammal study.
The short version
- Scientists studying yellow-bellied marmots in Gothic, Colorado, launched Fat Marmot Week to raise awareness and public donations amid federal funding cuts.
- The 64-year-old research project run by UCLA and the University of Ottawa needs over $200,000 to secure three years of funding and continue field work next summer.
- Winter marmot survival is increasingly threatened by climate-driven snowpack loss, with two-thirds of a monitored local group dying last winter due to inadequate insulation over burrows.
- The research team has turned to unconventional fundraising methods, including OnlyFans posts and transaction fees from a meme coin called $OnlyMarms.
Key facts
- The marmot study at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, began in 1962 and is jointly conducted by researchers from UCLA and the University of Ottawa.[Associated Press]
- Project leader Dan Blumstein reported that a monitored marmot population fell from over 160 animals to 60 ahead of the current season due to insufficient insulating snow cover during hibernation.[Associated Press]
- Federal funding cuts have reduced graduate student numbers in Blumstein's department at UCLA by one-third.[Associated Press]
- The research team needs more than $200,000 to secure three years of funding, having already raised roughly $100,000 from transaction fees tied to a fan-created cryptocurrency meme coin named $OnlyMarms.[Associated Press]
What remains uncertain
- Whether the team will raise the remaining funds required to ensure the long-term continuation of field research next summer remains uncertain.[Associated Press]