[7][8][9] The Himalayan marmot occurs in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau at altitudes of 3,000–5,500 m (9,800–18,000 ft) in northeastern Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and China.

The Himalayan marmot lives in short grass steppes or alpine habitats, typically above the tree line but below the permanent snow limit.

[12] Other predators of Himalayan marmots include Tibetan wolves, red fox, and large birds of prey like golden eagles.

[13][14] It was known to the ancient Greek writers as the gold-digging ant apparently as reference to the fact that gold nuggets were found in the silts of the burrows these marmots dug.

[15][16] The French ethnologist Michel Peissel claimed that the story of 'gold-digging ants' reported by the Greek historian Herodotus was founded on the golden Himalayan marmot of the Deosai plateau and the habit of local tribes such as the Minaro to collect the gold dust excavated from their burrows.