rocks where they sun themselves for warmth, grooming each other, playing, chirping, and feeding together. Burrows are multi-purpose structures, used for hibernation, protection from bad weather and predators, and to raise newborn pups. A typical colony of marmots consists of a male, two to three females, and their young, sometimes living in groups of more than a dozen animals; young marmots stay with their family for at least two years, so a burrow is often home to a newly born litter and a litter of two-year-olds. Marmots seldom move to other colonies with the exception of sub-adults of two to three years old, which may leave the home colony to start a new family elsewhere; females move only a few hundred meters, though males often move several kilometers away from their birth burrow. A colony may have a subordinate or "satellite" male, smaller and younger than the colony male, who may take over as the dominant male if the incumbent dies. The satellite male lives in a separate burrow, away from the rest of the colony. After emergence from hibernation, if the satellite male and the colony male are both still living in the same colony, the dominant colony male may chase the satellite around multiple times per day. The satellite male's feeding area is limited to areas far from the rest of the marmots in the colony, and he must stay away from the other marmots' burrows as long as the colony male is near. While the satellite male does not approach the other marmots in the colony, they sometimes make trips over to the satellite male's burrow, often about two times an hour. After more time has passed since hibernation, males will become less hostile towards each other, and less avoidance and chasing will occur. Male-male competition ends around the same time that the reproductive season does. The diminution of hostile behavior is only temporary, as the satellite male becomes assigned to its subordinate status again the following spring after emergence from hibernation and the ritual begins again. Communication When greeting each other, these very sociable animals will usually touch noses or nose to cheek; in courtship rituals they may inter-lock teeth and nibble each other's ears and necks. They may also engage in play fighting, in which two marmots on their hind legs push each other with their paws; this play fighting is more aggressive between older