Marmots Menace California Hikers

You might want to think twice before napping or parking in one corner of California's Sequoia National Park. In the Mineral King Valley, yellow-bellied marmots—burly ground squirrels roughly the size of small dogs—have become notorious for swiping boots and backpacks, and even charging people who try to grab back stolen trekking poles, the Wall Street Journal reports. One hiker woke up to a marmot's tongue in his ear; another watched the animal make off with his gear and then "go to war" with his girlfriend over a hiking pole.

• "It scared the s--- out of me," 28-year-old engineer Andrew Reinhart says of the marmot encounter. "You don't expect to get licked when you go to sleep in the woods."

Their most expensive habit, though, happens under the hood. Drawn to salt and fluids, marmots slip into parked cars to chew through hoses and sip radiator liquid, sometimes leaving vehicles crippled and hikers facing $1,000 tow bills down a narrow mountain road. The park now posts "You Are Entering Marmot Country" warnings. During peak marmot season, from May to July, visitors wrap their cars in tarps—turning the lot into what one resident calls a scene of "giant Christmas presents."

"Physically block marmots by driving over a tarp and then wrapping it around your entire vehicle. Cover the wheel wells," the National Park Service advises visitors. "Wrapping chicken wire around the vehicle is no longer advised, as marmots have learned to get around the wire." The NPS says unsuspecting drivers have given marmots rides to other parts of the park, and even as far as Southern California. In Colorado, where marmots have also been known to harass hikers, a marmot stowaway with an ear tag made it to Arizona and was flown back in a state plane, says UCLA marmot expert Dan Blumstein.