Beginning the search for ZeMarmot

We have started a dozen days of research for “ZeMarmot” Open Movie. By this, we mean we are going for a trip to the Alps, where we we will stalk cool marmots! Our goal is to get photos, videos and sounds, of marmots, other animal and awesome mountain landscapes. These will be used for reference for the animation film, to study marmot behavioral patterns, movements, get ideas, and so on.

We actually started in the Massif Central, the center mountains in France, since it was on our way south. We stopped by Mont Dore, where we hiked for a day the Puy de Sancy, since we read that many marmots were living there (reintroduced by mankind after disappearing… probably because of mankind anyway!).

Puy de Sancy, France
Puy de Sancy, France

Well the day was not the most sunny, and it was quite windy, so apart from some mouflons from quite far, we could not find any marmots. I imagine they would not get out in crappy days. I wouldn’t if I were a marmot!

Mouflon on the Mountain, Puy de Sancy, France
Mouflon on the Mountain, Puy de Sancy, France

Well… until the very very end, just when we were getting back, and when the rain started, a small ball of fur ran just a few meters in front of us! It ran inside its burrow, but we camped in front for a dozen minutes, and it slowly came out again. So for a first day, we were quite happy. We at least got our first photographs and videos of a marmot!

Marmot in Puy de Sancy, France
Marmot in Puy de Sancy, France

Now the bad news is that our 64GB UDMA7 CompactFlash card died while we were transferring all the photos and videos on the computer, the next day! We lost at least 71 photos (many of them of the said marmot unfortunately) and 1 video in my count, and maybe more, and we’ll have to buy a new one tomorrow, before we are heading to the Alps for the main part of the research adventure.

Well that’s life, I guess.

See you soon for the next update!