Death-Wish Marmot

It seems a yellow-bellied marmot has decided the middle of a roadbed was a good exit hole.

The marmot was snapped taking death-defying peeks from a hole in a Montana motorway.

‘I thought it was just sitting in the road, as they do this quite often, but while setting up my tripod I saw out of the corner of my eye a car approaching the marmot,’ said photographer Zack Clothier.

‘I thought for sure it would scurry out of the road to avoid being hit so I continued what I was doing, still observing from the corner of my eye.

‘When the car got almost on top of it, the marmot seemed to just melt into the road.’

The yellow-bellied marmot – a kind of ground squirrel – soon reappeared, ducking in and out of the pothole as Mr Clothier moved closer.

‘When it finally stopped popping its head out, I walked over to the hole,’ said the photographer.

‘It seemed to be quite deep and tunnelled to one side under the road so it is possible the marmot was using it as a den.

.