Tibetan Fox and Himalayan Marmot in Qilian Mountains, Tibet

choi

(1) 乔纳森·阿莫斯, 野生动物摄影大奖：狐狸和土拨鼠的 '生死瞬间.'  BBC Chinese, Oct 16, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/ukchina/simp/50058344
("在发动攻击之前，这只狐狸埋伏了很久，一动也不动，希望能捉到偶然经过的土拨鼠，结果一如所愿，在出奇制胜的攻击之后，土拨鼠成了狐狸的晚餐。。要成为一名成功的野生动物摄影师也需要具备像这只狐狸一样的坚忍毅力，中国摄影师鲍永清为了拍摄这张照片，在青藏高原上也躲藏盯梢了好几个小时，才捕捉到如此珍贵的画面")

, which is translated from

Jonathan Amos, Yikes! Fox and Rodent Battle Is Top Wildlife Photo. BBC, Oct 15, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50036823
("The fox has surprised the marmot and a fight is about to begin that will result in the rodent being killed.  Not even the intervention of the marmot's mother can change the outcome")

My comment: There is no need to read the rest of this BBC (English) report.

(2) Josh Davis, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 winning images. London: Natural History Museum, Oct 15, 2019
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/n ... winning-images.html
("Photographer Yongqing Bao's image wins the grand title with an extraordinary image of a Tibetan fox pouncing on a startled marmot in China's Qilian Mountains. * * * The picture captures the instant a female Tibetan fox, hunting to keep her three cubs alive, engages in a fight for survival with a Himalayan marmot. * * * Tibetan foxes (Vulpes ferrilata) are only found on the high Tibetan and Ladakh plateaus, which extend into Nepal, China, India and Bhutan.  While the foxes are wide-ranging and so not necessarily rare, living at altitudes of up to 5,300 metres on the plateau's isolated steppes means that they are difficult to observe. In fact, this remoteness has contributed to the lack of scientific knowledge about the striking-looking canines.  Very little is known about the foxes. * * * The foxes are not hunted or persecuted in any significant way, but the prey on which they rely on is. The foxes are dependent on a small mammal known as the plateau pika, a species which has been subject to eradication attempts")

My comment:
(a) The commentary talks about fox, not marmot.
(b) marmot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmot
(in the genus Marmota, with 15 species)

The species in North America is called groundhog.
(c) Ladakh  拉达克
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh
(a part of the larger region of Kashmir)

(4) The Winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. Al Jazeera , Oct 16, 2019
https://www.aljazeera.com/indept ... 91016101304040.html
("It was early spring on the alpine meadowland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in China's Qilian Mountains National Nature Reserve, and very cold. The marmot was hungry. It was still in its winter coat and just out of its six-month-long winter hibernation, spent deep underground with the rest of its colony of 30 or so. It had spotted the fox an hour earlier and sounded the alarm to warn its companions to get back underground. But the fox itself had not reacted or moved. So the marmot ventured out of its burrow again to find plants to graze on. The fox remained still. Then suddenly she rushed forward")