The yellow-bellied marmot has a yellowish belly and reddish-brown back. Yellowstone National Park's account describes it feeding on plants in rocky grassland and hibernating.
Its back is reddish brown, and its belly is yellowish. Its ears and tail are small.
In California’s Sierra Nevada, researchers compared 5,879 observations collected from 2009 to 2012 to study three mountain squirrels across alpine and upper subalpine habitats. Records covered elevations of 2,500–3,700 m and about 320 km from north to south.
Meadows were important in defining niches of Yellow-bellied Marmots and Belding’s Ground Squirrels; conifers were important for Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels. Precipitation was positively associated with Belding’s Ground Squirrels and negatively associated with the other two species.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The study found that Yellow-bellied Marmot habitat is shaped by climate, topography, and landcover together, with meadows important to its niche. Forecasts of where the species may persist need to consider more than climate alone.