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Do squirrels hibernate in summer8/3/2023 ![]() "They’re pretty solitary for most of the year, so the male has no clue where the female is most of the year except when they’re ready to mate," says Penn State’s Zervanos.Įven their maternal duty to their young is short and sweet. (See " Video: Why do prairie dogs do ‘the wave? ’") Unlike some of their cousins, such as prairie dogs, groundhogs are basically loners, seeking out their own kind only to mate. "They’ll go for your best cabbages and best foods that you have out there." They're loners. "They’re selective," says the Smithsonian's Thorington. Soybeans, corn, family gardens-it’s all a banquet in the eyes of a groundhog. "They dig fairly extensive burrows, and tractors can break an axle ," says Zervanos.Īnd since the animals are herbivores-and prefer tender, young greens-they can make nuisances of themselves by raiding crops. Those impressive tunneling skills make for great burrows, but they can also mean big headaches for those who work in agriculture. In some cases, groundhogs have more than one residence and move from one burrow to another. Their burrows even have separate rooms for defecation-otherwise known as bathrooms. "They have a burrow for hibernating, and then they have another section of the burrow that's more like their summer home where they can come out more easily." There can be several levels to their burrows, says Zervanos. They build impressive homes.Ī groundhog's burrow can be anywhere from eight to 66 feet long, with multiple exits and a number of chambers. So how much wood could a woodchuck chuck? None, apparently. Other sources claim it's a bastardization of the Cree word otchek for "fisher" or the Ojibwe ojiig, also for "fisher" or "marten," which Europeans appropriated and misapplied to the groundhog. It may have its roots in the Algonquian (or perhaps Narragansett) name for the animal: wuchak. It's thought to be a corruption of the Native American words wejack, woodshaw, or woodchoock. Surprisingly, the name woodchuck doesn't have anything to do with wood. They're also known as land beavers, but their most famous nickname is woodchuck. ![]() Groundhogs have many colorful names, including "whistle-pig" for their tendency to emit short, high-pitched whistles. Now, PETA is arguing to replace groundhogs with robot groundhogs equipped with artificial intelligence that detects shadows. Some animal rights groups have long taken issue with Groundhog Day, arguing that these shy animals should not be put on display or interrupted from their natural hibernation cycle. "He became the one to prophesize whether winter would come or not." There's a movement to replace them with robots. "When the Europeans came over here, they didn't have any hedgehogs or badgers to lay the blame on, so I think the groundhog got it by being here and being a good size," speculates Thorington. ![]() How it wound up being the groundhog’s responsibility in the U.S. In Europe, however, the animal used was generally a hedgehog or a badger. According to the folklore, a sunny Candlemas Day means a longer winter. While the reported origins of Groundhog Day are many, the concept is thought to be linked to the Germanic tradition of Candlemas Day, a Christian feast day. " the most widely distributed marmot of all of them, as far south as northern Alabama to northern Canada-and some are even found in Alaska," says Stam Zervanos, retired professor of biology at Pennsylvania State University in Reading, who's conducted extensive research on groundhogs. What's more, groundhogs have an extensive range and can be found all over North America. "They are giant ground squirrels is what they are," says Richard Thorington, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Groundhogs ( Marmota monax) are a type of rodent known as a marmot, and marmots are closely related to squirrels. But what else is there to know about these annual celebrities? Here are some little-known facts. celebration in which people turn to these mammals to predict the weather: If the groundhog sees its shadow on that day, lore has it there will be six more weeks of winter. Held every year on February 2, Groundhog Day is a unique U.S. Each year groundhogs enjoy 15 minutes of fame-and then most people proceed to forget about them completely.
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