Litter sizes average about five offspring and it takes three years for the young marmots to reach sexual maturity.

Male offspring leave the home colony after their second winter, and about 60% of mature females give birth in any one year.

[4][5] The bobak marmot is often described as a large analog of the North American prairie dog, with a round stomach, stubby legs, and a short tail.

Bobak marmots inhabit steppe ecosystems and prosper on rolling grasslands and on the edge of cultivated fields.

A population of bobaks living in the Ural Mountains is believed to have served as a reservoir host for the bubonic plague epidemic that struck western Russia at the end of the 19th century.