By Ame Vanorio © Updated 2/1/2020
With the ability to move 700 pounds of dirt an hour, the groundhog builds an impressive underground home that reaches 10 – 60 feet in length and maybe three layers. Just like your house, the tunnels contain numerous chambers or rooms for sleeping, eating, and bathroom facilities. Two to five entrances allow easy access and escape from predators.
What’s in a Name?
You may know the Groundhog (Marmota monax) by several names including Woodchuck or Whistle-pig. The name woodchuck comes from the Algonquian word wejack and is more commonly said in the Northeast.
The woodchuck actually chucks no wood but is an herbivore, eating only plants such as grasses, vegetation, and occasionally grubs and snails. They do chew bark but do not cut down a tree like a beaver.
The term groundhog is used in the Midwest and whistle pig or just "piggies" is often used in the southern states. The term whistle-pig refers to the high-pitched sound they emit to warn of danger.
They may also whistle to get attention. We have had baby groundhogs in rehabilitation who would whistle as I went by as if to say “feed me next”!
This little guy was hit on the road by a car causing some superficial cuts and a concussion. He healed qiuickly and was released back with his family.
Family Tree
Groundhogs are rodents and part of the squirrel family. They are found in Kentucky and Wisconsin as well as much of North America. They live in a variety of terrain including pastures, woodlots, and infamously under barns.
The clearing of forests and the killing of predators by early settlers actually helped the groundhog expand their territory and become more populous. Humans, domestic dogs, foxes, and coyotes are their primary predators.
They are territorial and males will fight with other males to establish dominance.
Groundhogs live asocial, solitary lives except when mating and raising young. Young are born in April and May after a gestation of 31 days. They have a small range and stay fairly close to their burrows.
Groundhog range in North America
Species Characteristics
Males are larger than females weighing an average of nine pounds and being twenty-two inches long including the tail.
Groundhogs are rodents and with that comes large incisor teeth that grow all the time. In fact, the groundhog’s front teeth can grow 1⁄16″ an inch every week! To keep their teeth from growing through their gums and harming themselves groundhogs gnaw on wood. Thus the name woodchuck and leading to the popular tongue-twister.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could
if a woodchuck could chuck wood!
Night, Night. Sleep Tight.
Groundhogs experience true hibernation from late fall to early spring. Their heart rate and core body temperature drop and seem to be in a deep sleep. They typically hibernate from October to March but that varies with the climate they live in.
They hibernate in a deep chamber below the frost line. Male groundhogs may wake up when it is still cold in February to look for love by making house calls on nearby ladies! After determining who his potential suitors are he goes back to sleep and awakens in March for mating season.
Read our blog NIGHTY NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT! HIBERNATION, BRUMATION AND TORPOR EXPLAINED.
Surprisingly, given their squat body shape and proportionally short legs, the groundhog can climb trees and swim to escape predators.
Woodchuck up a tree. Photo by D. Gordon E. Robertson
Groundhog Diet
Groundhogs are vegetarians or herbivores. They eat a variety of grasses, weeds, fruits, and other vegetation. They prefer clover, dandelion, timothy, and plantain. They also enjoy wild fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, and crab apples.
Adults will eat a pound or more of vegetation a day.
Occasionally, they will eat insects such as grasshoppers, snails, and grubs.
Helping The Soil
Groundhogs have a bad rap with farmers because their burrows can be dangerous to livestock. However, the groundhog is actually very good for soils. The groundhog’s cousin the prairie dog combined with the bison is what created the fertile prairie soil.
That said the groundhog is actually fortuitous for the farmer as it aerates and mixes the soil increasing fertilization and soil health. Their “bathroom chambers” provide nutrients for many field plants.
In addition, groundhogs also help support other species of wildlife. Abandoned burrows may become homes for foxes, skunks, or rabbits.
Yum, Yum! Protecting Your Garden
Groundhogs enjoy a good garden snack and can cause mischief in your garden.
The best way to protect your garden is with a sturdy fence that goes eighteen inches below ground level. The fence needs to be at least three feet above the ground.
An electric fence can also deter them. Place one wire four inches off the ground and a second wire at eight inches high. Remember to keep the grass around the electric fence short so it does not short of the charge.
Clear the surrounding area of brush or rock piles that give groundhogs and other burrowing animals places to hide.
A loud radio tuned to your favorite heavy metal rock station may disturb them and cause them to move on.
Repellents such as coyote urine are also effective. Epson salts and castor oil are also felt to repel them but I am not convinced they work.
Releasing one of our rehabilitated “piggies”
Groundhogs in Folklore
Happy Groundhog Day!
Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2nd each year in the United States and Canada. The day started due to superstition from the Pennslyvania Dutch culture. The folklore stated that if the groundhog came out of its burrow and saw its shadow due then winter will persist for six more weeks. If they do not see their shadow then spring is just around the corner.
Obviously, the answer lies within the weather at the time and if it is cloudy or clear. But it is fun to speculate!
Grandmother Woodchuck
Grandmother Woodchuck is part of the Abenaki Native American mythology. Grandmother Woodchuck was very wise. She is the grandmother of Glooskap, a hero among the tribes. Glooskap is a bit of a trickster and Grandmother Woodchuck must continually guide and teach him.
Who can resist the hysterical Bill Murray in Groundhog Day!
Dr. Nathan Glaza with Ponyo
Groundhogs have a liver that is very similar to humans. Groundhogs get woodchuck hepatitis and are used in medical research. People can not get hepatitis B from groundhogs but medical researchers have been able to draw conclusions that have helped with treatment.
How Groundhogs Help Us and We Help Them
Like other mammals, a groundhog can get rabies, however, it is not considered a vector species in Kentucky. Groundhogs have a liver that is very similar to humans. Groundhogs get woodchuck hepatitis and are used in medical research to find a cure.
We treat several groundhogs a year that are hit by cars or have had a tussle with a dog. These groundhogs are released in our backfield when they are eating big kid food and showing appropriate fear and aggression.
Ponyo
Our former education groundhog was blind and had some neurological issues but she still enjoyed going outside to play!
A Drumlin Woodchuck by Robert Frost
All we who prefer to live
Have a little whistle we give,
And flash, at the least alarm
We dive down under the farm.
Robert Frost “A Drumlin Woodchuck”
Author, Ame Vanorio has 25+ years of experience living off-grid and as an organic farmer. She is the director of Fox Run Environmental Education Center and a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Bison bring up many romantic ideals of a time gone by. At one time bison ranged over much of the country, a cornerstone species in their ecological niche.
After being nearly exterminated by overhunting they have made a heroic comeback.