A vacationer received a lot too near a marmot in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Nationwide Park, and in response to those that witnessed the second, it didn’t go so nicely. The @touronsofnationalparks Instagram account shared a photograph of the lady as she prolonged her hand to the animal, presumably to let it sniff her earlier than giving it a pet.
The caption reads “it scratched her proper after.” Whoops.
Marmots are massive rodents that stay in some areas of North America and Eurasia. You can additionally name them “large floor squirrels,” since they will weigh as much as 15.4 kilos, with our bodies almost two ft lengthy. There are 14 species worldwide, together with yellow-bellied marmots, which stay within the Rocky Mountains of the US.
They are often fairly cute, however you shouldn’t pet them.
In response to the USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), yellow-bellied marmots are hosts to a wide range of ailments, “a few of which can be instantly or not directly transmitted to people; for instance, Rocky Mountain Noticed Fever (Rickettsia rickettsii; Cockrum 1997) and sylvatic plague (Yersinia pestis; Nelson 1980).”
Hopefully this vacationer got here away with nothing greater than a scratch and a life lesson:
Have you ever seen guests make questionable choices in nationwide parks?
