February 2, 2017
It’s Groundhog Day!
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Hmm … seems like an inane question even for an animal lover or environmentalist so, I’m not going to even try to figure out an answer to that hypothetical question. Instead, I’m going to escape from the political angst that is bombarding this country and run off (if only in my mind and via my Dish network) to Punxsutawney, PA where the festivities happening there will be front and center and focused on only the cutest of rodents … P2.
P2 … Punxsutawney Phil … is the most famous weather-forecasting groundhog and today is all about him and his keen abilities to discern the coming of spring from more winter. I often think he does a better job than most meteorologists!
I have to confess, before I get further into this, that I am a rodent lover. As in a lover of rodents … squirrels, beavers, woodchucks, chipmunks, porcupines, etc. You get the picture. Ever since seeing Uncle Billy’s pet squirrel in the movie It’s A Wonderful Life, I’ve been fascinated with them and would love to “have” one. I do not, however, wish to have rabies or my interior electrical cords chewed on so my love for rodenta stays outdoors.
(Except for the one that fell out of our tree and the cat brought to me and we rescued and named Baby Rufus … but that’s another story.)
Beyond the comfort zone of some – I feed “my” squirrels regularly. And if there happened to be a groundhog or woodchuck nearby, I’d feed him, too! I like them. I think they’re cute.
So, imagine my delight when, as a child, I realized there was a WHOLE DAY (a holiday of sorts) surrounding the good old groundhog! Simply fabulous! That delight continues to this day … and ever since I’ve wanted to be part of this crazy, special rodent day!
According to Wikipedia (thank you internet) the lowly groundhog (Marmota monax) is also referred to as a woodchuck and is indeed a member of the rodent family … belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots.
(My Dad and I hiked up Long’s Peak in CO (to the Peacock Pool, past the boulder field, one year) and fed the last of our lunch and some licorice to a marmot. I’m sorry Wildlife people and National Park rangers who are reading this … we were idiots! Everyone knows marmots shouldn’t eat licorice … they prefer peanuts and Snickers. But I digress!)
Groundhogs are also known as “whistle-pigs” because of their short, high-pitched vocalizations (akin to a whistle being blown). They are also known as “land beavers” but are most commonly known as groundhogs or woodchucks. And they are quite common in North America living as far south as Alabama and north into Canada and Alaska.
A few nuggets of info with which to impress your friends today, while eyes and ears are all things groundhog …
The actual word “woodchuck” (aka the sweet groundhog) is of Native American origin and believed to be from the Narragansett or Algonquian languages: wuchak. So, since a woodchuck really has no connection to wood, maybe they don’t chuck any?
Groundhogs (and their kin) make amazing and complex homes. They burrow into the ground and make homes that have several exits and chambers, walkways and rooms. “Homes” tend to be anywhere from 8-66′ in length and have separate rooms for sleeping and “bathroom duties”. Smart and tidy critters!
They live for about 8 years. Apparently, P2 is immortal because he’s been giving weather predictions for over 130 years!
They (unlike their prairie dog cousins) are asocial … groundhogs are solitary animals. Males and females come together to mate and then the male is off on his own again. Stud-muffin supreme. The female raises the young and shortly after they are weaned everyone goes their separate ways. See ya later, alligator. Good luck, Chuck! So, suffice it to say – no family reunions for these guys!
They are sleepers! Groundhogs are “true hibernators” in that they can lower their body temperature to roughly 41 degrees F and reduce their heart rate to only 5 times a minute! They hibernate from late fall until early spring and while they are cozied in their burrows – they don’t sleep constantly, nor have their body temperatures that low all the time. They wake up for 3-4 days and then go back to sleep and they do this about 20 times during their hibernation stint. (The way I’ve been sleeping, it sounds like I might be part groundhog!)
And it seems they have impeccable timing and instincts … they emerge too soon to mate or have babies – there are no mates to be found or the babies don’t have enough food. So, where there are woodchucks/groundhogs and “it’s time” they all seem to pop out of their burrows at once! Their window of opportunity for mating and survival is very narrow so it’s a good thing they have such good instinctual timing.
In any case, I could use some diversion from what is going on with this country politically, so I am very happy to lose myself, even for one hour, in all things groundhoggy and whistle-piggy.
Some day I’d like to be there for the festivities … and join in on all the merriment … top hats and all! But only once … not like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day!
So whether Phil sees his shadow (six more weeks of winter) or doesn’t (meaning an early spring), I’ll be happy to see his cute face emerge from his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob and give his forecast to the top-hatted insider who gives the proclamation of our fate. Winter or spring … which shall it be?
Thank you and three cheers for Punxsutawney Phil and his incredible (even if inaccurate) meteorological forecasting (and cuteness) and for all the folks who continue with this wild pomp and circumstance, revelry, ritual and celebration over, of all things … a groundhog.