Visitors can help Pikes Peak’s wild animals by not feeding them, because even a small handout, multiplied by 2,000 visitors on a summer day, leaves animals dependent on junk food that disappears when summer ends. Even foods thought to be healthy, such as grapes, can cause harm if a squirrel stores them with its winter food supply and mold ruins its caches. Feeding wildlife also creates risks for people, because mammals may carry fleas that spread disease and ground squirrels may bite the hand that feeds them. Wildlife is best enjoyed by watching or photographing it, allowing animals to keep a natural diet, stay healthier, and remain wild. Yellow-bellied marmots, nicknamed whistle pigs, eat heavily in summer to build body fat for long winter hibernation, gnawing leaves and stalks of wild plants and living in territorial colonies of one male and several females with young, and they may be seen around Glen Cove or on the summit. The least chipmunk can be recognized by the dark brown and white stripes on its face from nose to ears, and during summer it stores seeds, nuts, and berries found on Pikes Peak, then hibernates in winter and uses that food supply through spring.